Missiles reported fired at Israeli Air Force planes

January 20, 1982

Syrian forces in eastern Lebanon and Palestinian guerrillas in the south were reported to have fired missiles at Israeli Air Force planes Tuesday, threatening to revive the Syrian missile crisis that broke out nine months ago, then quieted down.

The radio said the the Syrians fired two Soviet-made SAM antiaircraft missiles that exploded without hitting the high-flying planes.

If the missile report is true, it's an ominous development in an area tight with tension from Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967.