Israel Targets Another Drone Near Syrian Border

The Israeli army announced that it targeted a drone approaching Israeli airspace from Syria on Friday, July 22, with a Patriot missile. According to several Israeli media reports, shortly after, Israeli fighter jets attacked several positions of the Syrian army in the southern Quneitra province. The Israeli army spokesperson's statements do not definitively state whether the Patriot missile strike resulted in the drone's downing, but the statement refers to the drone deviating from its path. Israeli media also mentioned two Patriot missiles fired at a flying object. The Israeli army did not specify which entity the drone belonged to, but emphasized that the drone was approaching the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel, which should be free of weapons. The spokesperson added that the country would act against any attempt to violate the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria from 1974 and would not allow Israeli sovereignty to be violated or its people to be endangered. Syria has not reacted to Friday's incident. According to Haaretz, this is the second drone that Israel has fired a Patriot missile at this week; the previous drone on Wednesday, July 20, flew a distance of ten kilometers in a 15-minute flight in the skies of the Golan Heights before being downed. According to Walla, the Israeli army responded to the question of why a drone was allowed to fly in Israeli airspace for 15 minutes by stating that the army wanted to ensure that the foreign object did not belong to Russian military forces operating in Syria, especially since Israeli Prime Minister was scheduled to meet with the Russian President in Moscow a few hours later. In response to the Syrian drone incursion, Israel also bombed several targets belonging to the Syrian army in Quneitra early Thursday, which Syria described as another part of Israeli hostile aggressions. Last month, Israel also fired at another drone approaching from Syria, although at the same time it deemed that drone harmless and suggested it could return to Syrian airspace. However, supporters of the Assad regime claimed that the Israeli missile strike was unsuccessful. On February 10 of last year, Israel announced that Iran had sent an "explosive drone" from the T-4 base in Homs province, Syria, towards Israeli airspace, which after being downed in Israeli skies, led to the bombing of dozens of "Syrian and Iranian targets." The increase in the number of Syrian drones apparently approaching Israeli airspace is due to the intensification of the Syrian army's operations against opposition groups in the south of the country. Loyalist forces to Bashar al-Assad have made further advances in reclaiming southern areas in recent days; this army inflicted a heavy new defeat on the rebels in the Daraa region on Thursday to drive ISIS-aligned forces and other rebels out of the southern Quneitra province as well. Benjamin Netanyahu defended his country's action of downing the Syrian drone during a meeting with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, on Wednesday, stating that Israel neutralizes threats it identifies in the air and on the ground from Syria. According to Walla, after the Netanyahu-Putin meeting, Israeli political sources said that Russia is taking steps to distance Iranian forces from southern Syria, and Israel has also agreed in this unwritten agreement that Assad's forces return to the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. Netanyahu stated on Thursday that the Assad regime does not concern him, and he has no objection to Bashar al-Assad regaining control over all of Syria under his rule, but it is the military presence of Iran in Syria that worries him.