DAMASCUS - Syrian anti-aircraft guns have confronted Israeli reconnaissance aircraft over the southwestern Quneitra province, forcing them to retreat.

"Syrian air defenses have repelled Israeli surveillance planes over Quneitra, forcing them to leave Syrian airspace," the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on Wednesday night.

The incident comes just a few days after the Syrian military downed an Israeli F-16 warplane over Syrian territory.

The Israeli military confirmed that one F-16 had gone down in northern Israel, and that its two pilots had ejected and had been located and transferred to hospital.

Over the past years, Israel has frequently attacked targets in Syria, often claiming that it hit positions or convoys belonging to Iran. This is while Iran has no military presence in Syrian territory, only offering advisory military assistance to the Syrian government fighting an all-out foreign-sponsored militancy.