Israelis Down 2 Syrian Jets on Bekaa Mission : Aerial Battle on ‘Routine’ Flight First Incident Since ’82 War; Called ‘Bad Timing’ for Summit

Israeli pilots, flying American-made fighters on what was described as a “routine reconnaissance mission” over Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, shot down two Soviet-built Syrian MIG-23s Tuesday, Israeli military headquarters announced. It was the first such incident since the initial days of the Lebanon war in 1982.

Sources here described as “bad timing” the fact that the clash between the two Middle East rivals coincided with the opening in Geneva of the summit meeting between their respective superpower backers--the United States and the Soviet Union.

Assessment Deferred

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres congratulated his country’s airmen but deferred judgment on the long-term significance of the clash. “One should not speak of trends on the basis of one incident,” he told an Israeli radio interviewer while on a visit to the Negev Desert.

According to the official statement released here Tuesday afternoon, the Syrian planes attempted to intercept the Israeli patrol. Military sources added that the Israelis fired air-to-air missiles when the Syrian planes closed on them beyond an unspecified safety range.

The two MIGs fell “several” miles inside Syrian territory, according to the official account. Air Force Gen. Amos Lapidot confirmed in an Israel radio interview that his country’s aircraft pursued the Syrian planes into Syrian airspace, then shot them down.

A Syrian military communique released in Damascus said the Israeli planes were driven out of Syrian airspace “without achieving their aims.” It made no mention of any planes being shot down.

Lebanese military sources in Beirut, quoting reports from the army’s Bekaa Valley command, confirmed the basic Israeli version of the clash.

Israeli pilots shot down 90 Syrian planes in three major battles during the first days of the 1982 Lebanon war, wiping out about one-fourth of Syria’s front-line combat aircraft. The Israelis have lost no planes in air battles with Syrian jets, although one Israeli plane was downed by a ground-to-air missile early in the war.

The last Syrian-Israeli air battle occurred on June 24, 1982, 18 days after Israel invaded Lebanon. The Israelis also shot down two Syrian MIG-23s on that occasion.

Israel has maintained regular reconnaissance flights over Lebanon despite the completion last June of its pullout of most of its ground forces. The flights are intended “to insure that no new threat develops” in the area, according to Israeli officials. Normal patrols, consisting of up to four aircraft, fly “several times a week,” the military sources said.

A senior Israeli defense source said the Syrians had recently moved some of their planes to bases nearer the normal Israeli flight path, close to the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Concerned about possible clashes, Israeli pilots were told that if Syrian planes rose in apparent challenge, they should, if possible, break off their reconnaissance and head back to their bases, this source said. And, he said, an Israeli air patrol did just that on Monday.

On Tuesday, however, the defense source said, the Syrians appeared to be moving into firing position, giving the Israeli pilots no choice but to fire first.

According to Israeli military sources, the Syrian aircraft never fired on their patrol.

“The minute you see a plane trying to intercept . . . then you take the necessary action,” one of these sources said. “You don’t take chances. You can’t. . . . It’s less than 30 seconds” to react.

The Syrian MIGs are equipped with four Atol air-to-air missiles with a range of six to seven miles, according to Israeli military sources. “If you let them get into the range, then it becomes an academic question later who opened fire.”

The sources refused to reveal whether the aircraft involved were F-15s or F-16s, both of which are American-made. The Syrian communique spoke of two Israeli F-15s.

While Syrian planes sometimes monitor the Israeli reconnaissance flights, they generally keep their distance. Israeli military sources said it was unclear why they did not do so Tuesday.

“I don’t know if it was a locally initiated incident, or a pilot decision, or a squadron commander decision, or a decision in Damascus,” one of the sources said.

Syria is clearly concerned over the course of a recent flurry of Mideast diplomatic activity aimed at arranging direct peace talks between Israel and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. However, the prospects for such talks remain uncertain, and last week Syria and Jordan appeared to take an important step toward patching up their differences with their first high-level meetings in six years.

Since losing 90 planes over Lebanon, the Damascus regime has rebuilt its air force with the advanced MIG-23s, SU-11s and SU-22s, according to Israeli military sources. The force now contains more than 600 planes, they said.

The improved version of the MIG-23 supplied to Syria since 1982 carries four air-to-air missiles and has a top speed of 1,500 miles an hour and a range of more than 400 miles.