September 28, 200718 yr From DefenseNews Posted 09/27/07 14:15 Israel again scrambles warplanes over ‘false alert’ By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, JERUSALEM Israeli fighter pilots scrambled warplanes on Sept. 27 for the third time in a week after concern was raised about activity over Syrian airspace, a military official said. The alarm was raised after assault helicopters were spotted on Israeli radar before eventually landing. ”This was a routine measure,” the official said. “The planes returned to base after it was determined the flight did not have aggressive intentions.” Last Saturday, an alert was sparked after a blip from an aircraft over Syria disappeared from radar screens, public radio said. The Israeli army declined to comment. A day earlier, radar spotted a potential enemy flying from Syria only to discover it to be a flock of migratory birds. Tensions have soared on Israel’s border with Syria since Damascus said its air defenses fired on Israeli warplanes that dropped munitions deep inside its territory in the early hours of September 6. The Israeli government has maintained a total blackout on the operation, but army radio said military commanders preferred not to take any risk. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, from the center-left Labour party, told Israeli public radio Thursday: “I have a feeling that tensions are easing between the two sides, because neither side wants war.” Israel and Syria are technically at war. The last round of peace talks collapsed in 2000, largely over the fate of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981.
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