Israeli F-16 shot down after striking Syrian target...

via Jerusalem Post.

In a major flare up on Israel’s northern border, Israel carried out a large-scale attack against Syrian air defenses and Iranian targets in the war-torn country after an Israeli F-16 crashed during operations to strike Iranian targets in Syria early Saturday morning.

The operation, which was carried out by eight Israeli jets, struck 12 targets in Syria including thee Syrians SA5 and SA17 air defense batteries and four Iranian targets near the town of Kiswah, which is home to Syria’s 1st armored division and part of the Islamic Republic’s buildup in Syria.

Story here. 

This is interesting.

I thought the Israeli Air Force had this whole area classified, indexed, cataloged and sorted.

So how did an unidentified anti-air system confound their planning and get a knockdown of one of their fighters?

Either something new (read that to be Russian anti-air) has entered the fray or the Israelis missed a new system acquired by the Iranians or the Syrians that they snuck into the area.

Regardless.

This thing could spiral.  Everyone is making power plays to unknown ends and no one wants to take a beat to assess whether its worth the price.