CAIRO, Egypt – Air defense systems fired at Israeli warplanes that violated Syria’s northern airspace early Thursday, according to Syrian officials, who said the jets broke the sound barrier when they crossed the border after flying in from the Mediterranean Sea.
A Syrian army spokesman told the official Sana news agency that air defense units “confronted” Israeli military jets over Tall Abyab, near the Turkish border, “and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage.”
The spokesman added: “We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way.”
Israel would not confirm or deny the claim by Damascus. “It is not our custom to respond to these kinds of reports,” an Israeli government statement said.
A U.S. official confirmed the incident Thursday.
In Washington, the State Department had no specific comment on the incident, citing lack of details about what happened.
“I’d leave it up to the parties to describe what happened. We’ll leave it to them to try to sort this out,” said deputy spokesman Tom Casey.
The incident comes amid Arab and Israeli media reports in recent weeks that the region may be headed toward war, provoked either by an Israeli airstrike or a military move by Syrian President Bashar Assad to try to retake the Golan Heights, which Israel captured during the Six-Day War in 1967. Peace talks between Damascus and Jerusalem have yet to be revived since stalling in 2000.
Israel has been agitated by Syrian involvement in Lebanon and its support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have attempted to calm the rhetoric through diplomatic channels. Israel recently shifted some military exercises from the Golan Heights to southern Israel in an effort to defuse talk of war. Olmert’s government was heavily criticized at home for its handling of the 2006 war with Lebanon, and analysts say Israel wants to avoid another conflict.
Comments by Syrian officials about Thursday’s incident suggest that planes may have been conducting reconnaissance flights near Syria’s border with Turkey. Syria said ammunition was found in the area. It is common for a pilot under attack to drop some ammunition and fuel to help the aircraft maneuver.
The Israeli military in the past has acknowledged when its aircraft have entered Syrian airspace, such as when warplanes circled Assad’s presidential compound in coastal Latakiya last year.
Israeli media were left Thursday to speculate about the nature of the reported flight and about whether the incident would heighten border tensions. Ayala Hasson, diplomatic reporter for Israel’s state-owned Channel 1 TV station, said government censors prevented details from being publicized but that there was no doubt Israel had been carrying out some kind of activity in Syrian skies.
Syria has fired on Israeli fighter jets after they claim that the planes entered Syrian territory "dropping ammunition" and traveling at the speed of sound.

"Air defense units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage. We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," said a spokesman for the Syrian military force.

Israel has neither confirmed or denied the reports, simply stating that "we cannot discuss military operations." Past Israeli military operations into Syrian airspace have been confirmed by the Israeli military, such as the circling of Syrian President Bashar Assad's compound in 2006. 

Israel, in the past, would fly over Lebanon and Turkey to perform training exercises and have at times traveled at the speed of sound. The last reported Israeli fighter planes to fly into Syria was in 2006 after an Israeli soldier had been kidnapped. They also flew into Syria just before the armed conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon had begun.

Syria has said that no targets were hit and that no one was injured in the incident.