Israel fires missile at drone from Syria

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israel’s military said it launched Patriot anti-aircraft on Sunday at an incoming drone from Syria, which turned away unscathed, and a Syrian commander said the pilotless plane was engaged in local operations.

The Syrian army with the help of allied forces has been mobilising troops and sending reinforcements in a widening military campaign to regain rebel held territory near the area where the drone was targeted and along the border with Jordan. Iranian-backed militias are believed to be backing the Syrian army’s offensive against a string of rebel held towns in Quneitra province near the Israeli border, according to a Western intelligence source.

“The drone is for operations in southern Syrian around where the battles are going on,” a commander in the regional alliance supporting President Bashar al-Assad told Reuters. The southwest is of strategic concern to US -allied Israel, which has this year stepped up attacks on Iran-backed militia allied to President Bashar al Assad.