Israel denies Syrian claim of spy-plane shootdown

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Linda Feldmann

July 22, 1983

Damascus, Syria

Syria said it shot down an unmanned Israeli reconnaissance plane over the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. An Israeli military spokesman outside Beirut said he knew of no such attack. Lebanon's right-wing Phalangist radio in Beirut said the Syrians had fired a Soviet-made SAM-6 ground-to-air missile, but the rocket missed and exploded in the air.