Israel's military said this morning it had shot down a Syrian warplane over the Golan Heights, in the first such incident in three decades.

"It was a Russian-made Sukhoi," a military spokesman said.

Israeli military sources said the plane apparently crossed by accident into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Golan Heights - where fighting from Syria's civil war has spilled over occasionally - and was not on a mission to attack Israeli targets.

The aircraft was intercepted by a US-manufactured Patriot missile, the spokesman said.

Israel Radio said the warplane was apparently carrying out a mission against Syrian rebels battling the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. Israel's military said it shot down a Syrian drone over the Golan Heights on Aug. 31.

Israel last downed a manned Syrian aircraft in 1985, when Israeli fighters on a surveillance mission over Lebanon destroyed two Syrian MiG-23s that approached them.