Israel will continue its efforts to prevent attempts to arm Lebanon-based Shia Islamist militant group, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday.

Netanyahu comment comes in a wake of reports that Israeli aircraft have carried out several strikes inside Syria overnight Thursday.

"Our policy is very consistent. When we identify attempts to pass modern weaponry to Hezbollah, when we have intelligence data and operational capabilities, we act to prevent this," the prime minister said in a video statement circulated by his office.

On Friday morning, Syrian Army Command issued a statement that air defense forces had shot down an Israeli jet, and damaged a second, with two more planes in the Israeli squadron managing to fly away. The Army indicated that the Israeli Air Force had violated Syrian airspace, and targeted government troops near Palmyra in the center of the country.

Earlier, an Israeli military source told Sputnik that its warplanes were targeted by Syrian missiles during an attack on targets on Syrian territory, but said that no Israeli planes had been damaged or lost in the attack. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman later again denied the Syrian claim that an IDF aircraft had been lost.