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Updated 1.15pm
ISRAEL STRUCK A dozen Syrian and Iranian targets inside Syria today in “large-scale” raids after an Israeli fighter jet crashed under fire from Syrian air defences in a severe increase in tensions, the military said.
The confrontation was the most serious between arch foes Israel and Iran since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011.
Israel’s raids came after it intercepted what it said was an Iranian drone entering its airspace from Syria, which it labelled an “attack”.
It marked the first time Israel publicly acknowledged attacking what it identified as Iranian targets in Syria since the war began.
In response, Iran denounced Israeli “lies” and said Syria had the right to self-defence in response to Israeli strikes.
Separately, Iran issued a joint statement alongside the other main allies of the Syrian regime – Russia and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah – denying the allegations regarding the drone.
The Russian foreign ministry called for “restraint” from all parties.
Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus warned that Syria and Iran were “playing with fire,” but stressed his country was not seeking an escalation.
“This is the most blatant and severe Iranian violation of Israeli sovereignty in the last years,” Conricus told journalists in a phone conference.
Israel said its reprisals after the exchange were “large-scale” raids that attacked Syrian air defence systems and Iranian targets.
“Twelve targets, including three aerial defence batteries and four Iranian targets that are part of Iran’s military establishment in Syria were attacked,” a military statement said.
Israel has repeatedly warned in recent weeks against the presence of Iranian forces in neighbouring Syria.
‘Massive’ anti-aircraft fire
The Israeli pilots of the crashed F16 were alive, although one was severely wounded, the military said.
According to the Israeli military, the confrontation began with the drone entering its airspace before being intercepted by a combat helicopter.
Conricus said it was intercepted well inside Israeli territory over the city of Beit Shean, near the Jordanian border.
He did not say whether the drone was armed or for reconnaissance, but alleged it “was on a military mission sent by Iranian military forces” from an “Iranian base” in the Palmyra area.
Eight Israeli aircraft then “targeted the Iranian control systems in Syria that sent the UAV” and confirmed hits, according to Conricus.
The aircraft met “massive Syrian anti-air fire,” Conricus said, and the F16 crashed afterwards in the Jezreel valley in northern Israel.
It was not clear if the jet crashed as a direct result of the Syrian fire.
According to the military, the pilots ejected, landed in Israeli territory and were taken to hospital.
Syria said its air defences repelled two Israeli raids on its military bases in the centre of the country, hitting more than one warplane during the first.
‘Nobody tries us’
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the seven-year civil war, said the earlier Israeli raids had targeted several military bases in the east of the central province of Homs.
It said the bases are used by both Iranian and Russian military personnel deployed in support of the regime.
Syrian state media said the later raids targeted military positions in the south of the country.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Tehran “believes Syria has the right to legitimate self-defence. To cover their crimes in the region, Israeli officials are resorting to lies against other countries”.
He added that “Iran does not have a military presence in Syria, and has only sent military advisers at the request of the Syrian government”.
Iran, Russia and Hezbollah – the Syrian regime’s main allies – issued a joint statement calling Israel’s drone allegations “lies”.
It said the Israeli strikes had targeted drones used against “terrorist organisations, primarily Daesh”, using an alternative name for the Islamic State group.
The statement vowed a “relentless response” to “all further aggression”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held a series of meetings in recent months with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Iran’s influence in Syria and Lebanon.
Netanyahu has been seeking to persuade Russia to limit Iran’s presence near Israeli territory and to stop it from entrenching itself militarily in Syria.
In a meeting in Moscow last month, Netanyahu reiterated concerns of what he described as attempts by Iran to establish a military presence in Syria and produce weapons against Israel there.
“We won’t accept either of those, and will act according to our needs,” Netanyahu said then.
Israel remains technically at war with Syria and occupies a swathe of the strategic Golan Heights that it seized in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu took members of his security cabinet for a tour of the Israeli-occupied side, where they were briefed by the military.
Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the Syrian war, but acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes there to stop what it calls advanced arms deliveries to Hezbollah.
Several analysts said they did not expect a further escalation for now.
Ofer Zalzberg of the International Crisis Group said Russia should mediate since “it is the only stakeholder which has strong relations with all sides today.”
But he said “this incident signals a new phase in a way of the war in Syria”.
The Syrian regime is acting more boldly toward Israeli strikes because it feels it has gained the upper hand in the civil war, he said.
Don’t panic if you don’t get the points for engineering. An apprenticeship is a great route in to professional engineering qualification. Some real world electrical, fitting or building experience under your belt when you graduate with your level 8.
What about the students who did their LC prior to 2020 and applying for courses and got no grade inflation they are 100% discriminated against!!! Shameful !
Absolutely ridiculous points for teaching. Plenty of potentially excellent school teachers cut out of the equation.
@Vonvonic: may be so but its supply and demand. The colleges don’t set the points. If there’s 100 places available and the top 100 who applied had 600 points then the points are 600. I think it’s important to remember LC points are not the be all and end all, and there are many methods to pursuing the career you wish had you not got the required points during CAO offers. Hopefully this is made aware to students who missed out, it doesn’t mean they cant be teachers or whatever other profession they wish to go in to, there are always other avenues available.
I’m very very lucky to have gone to college in 2006 because I did not get near those points. Seems like it’s gone mad. Time for more places in courses and more resources in universities to educate our young people. Only the very top tier of students are going to get any of them courses. University needs to be a realistic pathway for the majority of students not a minority.
@Ciarán FitzGerald: I would disagree with adding more places, what’s the point in the taxpayer in this country paying to train more teachers, for example, if there is no chance of a job at the end of it. We should be pushing more students into apprenticeships for a lot more than just construction jobs, it’s more relevant to employment than most university courses.
Was speaking to some students earlier on today, who were allowed see their written paper results from the L.C. All were potential Commerce students. We compared the marks they received last Friday to the marks they were given before the papers were sent to the Dept of Education, before their assessment. The average difference between each was minus 50pts per student that was deducted by the DoE i.e Papers corrected by teachers 550pts, DoE deducts an average of 50pts to give 500pts as L.C. result by downgrading a say H1 to a H5 or vice versa. EG On Commerce, last year in UCD – 521pts. This year – 555pts. The DoE reduced the % PTS each student got while the CAO. Equivalent to downgrading a student in one paper from a H1 to a H5 and the CAO raise the bar by 34pts for Commerce. These students were all in ‘private’ school. I have heard of 2 cases where two girls in a ‘public’ ( hate those phrases) school had their grades upgraded by the Dept, funnily enough both by 50pts, just like 2/3 years ago, when DoE they had to retract. My point is not Private v Public, my point is the lack of fairness in the system, the lack of places allocated at college and the ease at which the DoE can manipulate and discriminate at the same time. They may shout from the rooftops about record results but behind the wallpaper the cracks are widening quickly. Too many very clever young people are suffering unfairly and will probably have to repeat but even if they do fulfil their potential. At the stroke of a pen, the DoE, without evidence can throw these people on the scrap heap. I would like to hear your experiences.
@Barrycelona: The DoE have nothing to do with either marking the exams (the SEC) or the points (CAO). Points can’t be ‘deducted’. The points for a course are those received by the lowest successful applicant.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: Points were deducted through downgrading grades from say a H1 to a H3 etc All I know is what I was told. I don’t know the finer details of how the system works or who does what. What I do know is they arrived in their school and a teacher went through the papers with them. One girl got 540 on Friday last, 600 today Another 510 Friday 555 today both in private schools.In ‘ public school 373 to 425 and 490 to 530 ( both approx). I raise type of school only because there was a dispute some years back over students in private schools been downgraded more than ‘public’ schools and the DoE had to relent and readjust.
Doesn’t matter what the absolute points are, the top applicants for any particular course will get offered the places. That’s the way it has always been.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: You are making me feel like Simon Coveney. ‘ Shou look D have sorted this out sooner’ sort of thingy. I apologise! The bulk of what I said earlier still holds. My mistake was that I didn’t properly distinguish between Predictive and written results. Last Friday,bone of the girls got 500+ PTS in her L.C. Today they were allowed access their Predictive results. My understanding is that they were allowed to choose the better results of the two papers’ In this case, she was given 550+PTS in the predictive ‘ paper’. When I went to school, 550 was more than 500. Somewhere along the line, exactly how I don’t know, this girl and her friends were not given the opportunity to take the higher scores in the Predictive as opposed to the written. i.e. she was allocated H2 instead of a H1 etc and 500+ PTS. Given what I was told and I now have no reason to doubt them the predictive downgrades cost them, on average, 50pts, which is a massive figure. A friend of theirs from a ‘ public’ school ( sorry,hate that word) and a friend of hers were given roughly 50 point upgrades. The DoE from what I know has not addressed this discrepancy. I know of another girl who was hoping to do a ‘ higher end’ degree and she was downgraded by nearly 60pts. She is now, partly through her own fault, is missing out on college altogether, as of now. It saddens me that many young people’s dreams have being shattered at least for a year and on top of the hardship they have already gone through. I await a lot of explanations but am not planning to hold my breath for that long. Maybe we should ask Ms Zappone to investigate for the sake of equality. Cheers!!
My daughter sat her L.C. in 2020, but held off on applying for college place till this year, as she wanted to do a certain course, that she hadn’t included in her original CAO application, done a PLC course to stay in education, The points this year for the course she wanted increased by 110 pts, both at level 8 and level 7, while I understand the points system etc, it does seem mighty unfair that some of the increases are putting some students well outside points for their chosen course
Since there will be no predictive grades in 2022, does anyone think points will go down next year? There is a 40 point jump in the course my son wants to do for college, he is in 6th year and that certainly adds pressure to an already stressful year.
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