The downing may have resulted from a well-laid Syrian army trap
Israel has confirmed the loss. The two pilots ejected over northern Israel, one of them is severely wounded, CNN:
Both pilots aboard the Israeli jet are safe, the Israeli army said, although one pilot was severely injured as a result of an emergency evacuation from the plane.
The downing of the F-16 may have resulted from a well-laid trap.
Earlier in the day an Iranian-made drone crossed over into Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel shot down the drone, but also predictably launched attacks against targets just to the west of Damascus, deep in Syrian territory. Once the Israeli bomber group reached their target they were met with “massive anti-aircraft fire” and one of the F-16s consequently didn’t make it home. The Jerusalem Post:
Early on Saturday morning an Iranian drone, which was launched from a Syrian base in the Homs desert, was identified approaching Israeli airspace by the IDF around 4 am, setting off alarms across the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley. Upon entering Israel it was intercepted by an Israeli Air Force Apache helicopter near the town of Beit She’an.
In response, Israeli aircraft targeted the drone’s launch site deep inside Syrian territory in a “complicated surgical strike,” in which heavy anti-aircraft missile fire was launched by the Syrians against the Israeli jets.
Did Syrians first ring the Homs airbase mentioned above with heavy air defenses, then sent a drone over to Golan specifically to goad IAF to send its jets against well-prepared defenses? Quite possible.
Predictably Israel is responding by launching yet more attacks.
Aside from launching over one hundred attacks on Syrian soil since 2013 the Israeli Air Force also shot down a Syrian Su-24 ground attack plane in 2014. Israel claimed the plane had crossed into IDF-occupied Golan Heights.