Military Source Contradicts Gadi Eisenkot on 2018 F-16 Downing

A military official with access to protocols has refuted claims made by Gadi Eisenkot, former IDF Chief of Staff and current head of the "Yisrael" party, regarding the 2018 downing of an F-16 fighter jet by Syrian anti-aircraft fire. Eisenkot had stated at a conference that he was unable to reach Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for two hours following the incident and consequently made the decision to launch a broad retaliatory strike in Syria himself.

The military source, speaking to ynet, presented a different timeline. According to this source, on February 10, 2018, an F-16 returning from a mission in Syria was hit by shrapnel around 6:00 AM and crashed in Israeli territory. The source claims Netanyahu was immediately updated and approved the operational plan to strike three Syrian radar sites and an additional Iranian target, a protocol for such events. This strike, according to the protocol, occurred at 6:20 AM.

Syrian reports of strikes in the Damascus area emerged around 9:00 AM that morning, followed by an IDF announcement detailing a "wide-ranging" attack on Syrian air defense batteries and Iranian targets, totaling 12 sites. The military source further stated that Netanyahu scheduled a follow-up assessment for 11:30 AM, while then-Chief of Staff Eisenkot recommended no further response until a later assessment at 5:00 PM. Both Eisenkot and then-Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reportedly agreed on this recommendation.

Eisenkot, in his conference remarks, described a scenario where he attempted to contact Netanyahu for two hours after the F-16 was shot down around 5:00 AM while returning from a mission targeting a "caravan" that had sent a drone into Israel. He stated that his military secretary informed him that Netanyahu was unreachable and advised him to proceed with his judgment. Eisenkot recounted that after he decided on a wide-scale strike against Syrian and Iranian targets, Netanyahu eventually appeared at the Air Force Situation Room several hours later and backed his actions, though he halted further planned strikes.

The "Yisrael" party issued a statement calling the military source's claims "lies" and expressing surprise that an anonymous uniformed official would leak information against a former Chief of Staff. The party affirmed that Eisenkot's account of the event is accurate and that he stands by it.