Israeli government and the security establishment have avoided responding to Syria's announcement of shooting at an Israeli warplane in its northern part of airspace.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday denied all knowledge of the incident with Syrians.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Olmert said in response to the incident to a local daily Ha'aretz.
Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni made similar responses. "I don't know what happened there," Ramon said.
On Thursday, the Syrian army said that its air defenses fired at an Israel Air Force (IAF) warplane that entered Syria airspace and "dropped munitions."
A spokesperson of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Xinhua that "it is not our custom to respond to these kinds of reports."
Likud lawmaker Tzahi Hanegbi, chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said that the IDF response reflected the reality that Israel had no interest in getting into a confrontation with Syria.
In an interview with the Israeli Channel 2, Hanegbi said Israel 's interest was clear: "To reduce the tension and calm the situation."
However, the Syria-alleged Israeli provocation prompted speculations as to its nature and would-by consequences in the region.
"This could well be a one-off that will not develop into anything more, for the time being, but it does send shock waves across the region." Yoav Stern from Ha'aretz noted.
Syrian response will determine considerably how the rest of the incident plays out, he added.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Bar Ilan University believed that "Syria wants to draw the world's attention to its direction, in order to ease the pressure on its ally Iran."
Prof Eyal Zisser, head of Tel Aviv University's Middle Eastern and African Studies Department, said he believed Syria would not be quick to attack.
The incident came as Syria was pursuing an unprecedented arms build-up and amid growing fears of an impending war, said media reports.
Since the Israeli-Lebanese Hezbollah war last summer, Israeli military intelligence has warned that though Syria is not interested in an armed conflict with Israel, a lack of communication between the two countries could cause a war if a diplomatic resolution were not reached beforehand.
An Israeli security official said late last month, however, that the IDF had decided that war with Syria is unlikely and was reducing its troop presence in the Golan Heights after months of tension.
Israel has acknowledged making routine flights over Lebanon, but it is unclear how often the IAF flies over Syria.
At the beginning of the Israeli-Lebanese Hezbollah war last summer, warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus.
In June of the same year, they also flew over Assad's summer home in Latakia, near the border with Turkey, after Hamas terrorists abducted Gilad Schalit in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Xinhua
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