Syrians on both sides of the civil war responded to Israel’s downing of a Syrian Sukhoi-24 fighter jet that had infiltrated into Israeli airspace on Tuesday morning.
A senior member of the Syrian opposition told the Hebrew-language NRG website, “We thank Israel for knocking down the plane, and we hope it is the start of a new situation, where the airspace in Syria, and in particular, the Golan Heights are clear of any of Bashar al-Assad’s jets.”
The opposition member added that the plane was on its way to attack Syrian rebel positions.
Syrians supporting Assad’s side of the civil war blamed Israel for taking sides and cooperating with the rebels, and specifically Da’ash (ISIS) and the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusra Front) terrorist organizations.