Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria since the accidental downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane last month, a senior Israeli official said on Monday.
The Sept. 17 downing by Syrian anti-aircraft fire trying to counter an Israeli airstrike on a suspected Iranian arms shipment to Syria, sparked a diplomatic crisis between Israel and Russia, and Moscow blamed Israel for the incident.
The Israeli official, who declined to be named, did not provide details of the nature of Israel's alleged actions since the incident, or the number of Israeli airstrikes that had taken place.
"The IDF has attacked in Syria, including after the downing of the Russian plane. Military coordination with the Russians continues as before," he said.
Israel's Channel 1 said one airstrike was aimed at an Iranian weapons shipment bound for Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon. The shipment was carrying equipment intended to greatly increase the accuracy of the Shiite terrorist group's rockets and missiles, he said.
Israel, which has carried out airstrikes in Syria many times during the seven-and-a-half-year civil war in the country, said after the Sept. 17 incident it would work to improve "deconfliction" of its missions with Russian forces, but would not halt them.
But since the Russian plane was shot down shortly after Israeli jets attacked a nearby target, there have been no reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
The apparent pause raised speculation in the Israeli media that Israel was either holding back at Russia's request or had paused the attacks over concern that they would fuel further tensions with Moscow.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin "soon" to discuss security cooperation. Russia said it had upgraded Syria's air defenses with the S-300 missile system after accusing Israel of indirect responsibility for the incident.
