Syrian pilots seen 'parachuting to ground' from plane shot down by Israel

Israel claimed it shot down the Syrian jet after it entered Israeli air space

The Iron Dome air-defense system fires to intercept a rocket over the city of Ashdod. Due to recent escalation in the region, the Israeli army started new deployments at the border with the Gaza Strip

Footage claiming to show two Syrian pilots parachuting to the ground from their plane after it was shot down by an Israeli missile has emerged.

The image, published by the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union, appears to show two people in the sky near Kanaker, a Syrian town near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Fighting from the Syrian Civil War has spilled over into the area before and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have not confirmed what the aircraft was doing.

A spokesperson said it was shot down in Israeli airspace shortly after 7.50am on Tuesday after being “intercepted” by the Patriot air defence system.

It is designed to stop planes and missiles, tracking them with radar and exploding them as they enter Israeli territory.

“The circumstances of the incident are being reviewed,” he added.

Syrian state television confirmed that Israel downed one of its fighter planes and the Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon told Bloomberg TV the jet had acted in a “threatening manner”.

In a blog post about the incident, the IDF said the border near the Golan Heights had become "highly unstable" in recent months as the conflict continues in Syria.

A spokesperson said IDF positions were hit by "errant fire" from Syria which wounded a soldier and projectiles have landed in its territory.

A drone from Syria was shot down on 31 August and the IDF targeted Syrian army positions in June after a 15-year-old Israeli was killed by an explosion along the border.

After the IDF launched operations in Syrian territory in May 2013, President Bashar al-Assad warned he would "respond to any Israeli aggression next time".