Photo taken on July 24, 2018 from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights shows explosions on the Syrian side near the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel. Israel targeted a Syrian warplane on Tuesday, leaving a pilot killed and another missing, a monitor group reported. The Israeli air defenses fired two missiles toward the warplane, which was striking rebel positions in southern Syria, and destroyed it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. (Xinhua/JINI/Gil Eliyahu)

DAMASCUS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel targeted a Syrian warplane on Tuesday, leaving a pilot killed and another missing, a monitor group reported.

The Israeli air defenses fired two missiles toward the warplane, which was striking rebel positions in southern Syria, and destroyed it, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The search for the second pilot is underway, the London-based watchdog added.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army said its air defenses intercepted a Syrian Sukhoi plane penetrating into the Golan Heights.

Two Patriot missiles were later fired at the fighter jet after it penetrated 2 km into northern Israel, it added.

State news agency SANA also reported the Israeli attack, saying the warplane was flying inside the Syrian airspace when it was hit.

The warplane was targeting positions of ultra-radical groups in southern Syria near the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, SANA said.

The incident comes two days after Israeli warplanes targeted a Syrian military position in the city of Mesyaf in the central province of Hama, the latest in a spate of attacks Israel has carried out against military positions inside Syria on the pretext of wiping out Iranian fighters and weapons.

The Syrian airstrikes have been targeting the Islamic State (IS) positions in southwestern Daraa near the Golan Heights.

The pro-government Al-Ekhbariah TV said the Syrian army captured all areas between Daraa and the Israel-occupied Golan Heights except an estimated 50-square-km IS-controlled area.