By Fox News<\/p>\n
Israel warned Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop letting his war-torn country be used by Iran as a launching pad for attacks, and tensions in the region remained high Tuesday following a weekend skirmish and a new Syrian threat of “more surprises.”<\/p>\n
The warning from Syria’s Assistant Foreign Minister Ayman Sussan came after an Israeli fighter jet was shot down inside Syrian territory Saturday as it was flying home from a blitz that reportedly wiped out around half of Syria\u2019s anti-aircraft batteries. The raid was directed at a site Jerusalem believes Iran used to launch a drone that was destroyed in Israel earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod willing, they will see more surprises whenever they try to attack Syria,\u201d Sussan\u00a0was quoted by Reuters as saying<\/a>\u00a0during a news conference in Damascus.<\/p>\n He added Syria has \u201cfull confidence the aggressor will be greatly surprised, because it thought this war — this war of attrition Syria has been exposed to for years — had made it incapable of confronting attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n The drone Iran launched was based off a U.S. model the Islamic Republic\u00a0captured during the Obama administration<\/a>, according to Israeli officials. The two Israeli pilots ejected from the F-16 jet when it came under Syrian anti-aircraft fire and suffered only minor injuries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not know what the mission of the Iranian drone was. It is their most advanced drone and they did not expect our radar to detect its penetration into our territory,\u201d an unnamed senior Israeli defense official told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, a day after the infiltration. \u201cOur aerial freedom will not be harmed. We will continue to destroy targets.\u201d<\/p>\n The official also said \u201cas far as we are concerned, the event is over but the Iranians are determined to continue to establish themselves in Syria; the next incident is only a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n An Israeli military spokesperson said Iran and its Revolutionary Guard forces have been operating at the drone launch site in Syria \u201cfor a long time, backed by Syrian army forces and with the approval of the Syrian regime,\u201d\u00a0according to the Jerusalem Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIran has been using the base in recent months for the purpose of transferring weaponry to be used against Israel,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n