News Stories Hint Of September Scrap; No Official Confirmation

News sources indicate that Syrian and Israeli jets tangled over the eastern Mediterranean on September 2004, after Israeli F-16s buzzed a Syrian seaport. Reportedly, the Syrian MiG-29s got the worst end of the deal, with two of them being shot down by the Israeli fighters.

Neither Israeli nor Syrian official sources have said a word about the dogfight, which raises an interesting question -- did it really happen?

The very detailed reports do not name the Israeli pilots, but say that one used an Israeli-made Python missile and the other an American Sidewinder to down the Syrian targets. The Syrian pilots were reported to have ejected safely and been rescued by Syrian helicopters. 

The Syrian pilots were identified by Syrian exiles as Maj. Arshad Midhat Mubarak and Capt. Ahmad Al Khatib.

Security experts speculate that the Syrians' bad fortune in the September 14 dogfight is one reason the Arab nation is seeking more advanced anti-aircraft weapons from Russia. Russia is likely to supply some, but not all, of the weapons the Syrians want, on the grounds that anti-aircraft weapons are defensive in nature.

A state of war between the two nations has existed since 1948, although the country's air forces last tangled on a large scale in 1982, when eighty Syrian fighters were downed and no Israeli aircraft were lost.

FMI: www.iaf.org.il/Templates/Kills/GeneralKills.aspx?lang=EN&lobbyID=40&folderID=43&subfolderID=874