JERUSALEM - Israel's military said it shot down a Syrian warplane over the Golan Heights on Tuesday.

A Patriot missile intercepted the aircraft after it flew into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Golan, a military spokesman said. Israeli media reports identified the aircraft as a MiG-21. The spokesman said it was a "fighter plane".

Fighting from Syria's civil war has occasionally spilled over into the Golan, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.