JERUSALEM: Israel kept up a careful policy of ambiguous silence on Friday over accusations from Damascus that its warplanes violated Syrian airspace in an incident that stoked tensions between the two enemies.

Syria said its air defences opened fire on Israeli warplanes flying over the northeast of the country in the early hours of Thursday and warned that it was weighing its response to the Israeli “aggression”.

But the Israeli government and military have stayed silent. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, toasting the Jewish new year with generals on Thursday, kept his lips sealed and government officials have refrained from any comment.

Speculating in the dark, Israeli analysts are divided over whether the flight — still unconfirmed — was a tactic of intimidation or a reconnaissance mission — or whether silence would appease or escalate tensions.

Tzahi Hanegbi, who is close to Olmert and chairman of parliament’s defence and foreign affairs committee, went public on Friday to say that Israel “does not want to raise tension” and is not courting confrontation with Syria.

But various analysts disagreed.

“If the air force did carry out such a flight, in the middle of the night without visibility... it looks like provocation to show Syria that Israel has not lost its power of deterrence,” said military expert Reuven Pedatzur.

The analyst maintained that the formal silence would “only increase tension” and runs the risk of courting an armed escalation that “neither side wants”.

“The tension between Israel and Syria climbs to new heights every day. Pay no attention to the soothing statements. Nothing has abated on this front in recent weeks,” wrote commentator Ben Caspit in the Maariv newspaper.

“A country that wants to avoid war is meant to go to great lengths on a day like this, in efforts to appease. But Olmert was silent.

“Israel paid highly for not landing a preventive strike before Yom Kippur. Israel desperately needs to restore its power of deterrence,” he wrote.—AFP