Israel Denies Iran’s Claim Of Downing F-35 Jets, Calls It ‘Fake News’ Amid Escalating Conflict

<p>Jerusalem, June 14 (IANS) The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Saturday accused the Iranian media of “spreading lies” while terming reports about the downing of two Israeli F-35 fighter jets as “fake news”.</p>
<p>Iran on Saturday claimed that the air defence force of its army has successfully shot down and destroyed two Israeli F-35 fighter jets and a large number of other micro air vehicles.</p>
<p>IDF’s international spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani took to social media, labelling it as a “complete FAKE NEWS”.</p>
<p>”While the Iranian regime spreads lies, we’re taking down real threats like this Iranian UAV shot down over northern Israel this morning,” he posted on X along with a video of Israeli defence forces downing an Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.</p>
<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday announced the launch of ‘Operation Rising Lion’ against Iran, a targetted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat of nuclear weapons to Israel’s very survival. He asserted that the operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove the threat.</p>
<p>Tensions in the Middle East escalated further early Saturday as Iran launched a fresh wave of missile attacks on Israel. The renewed offensive comes amid a period of heightened hostilities between the two nations.</p>
<p>”Two salvos of surface-to-surface missiles were launched from Iran towards the territory of the State of Israel, and in both salvos less than a hundred missiles were fired, most of which were intercepted by air defence systems or did not arrive. There is limited damage to the buildings, some from landslides,” IDF Spokesperson, Brigadier General Efi Dufferin said on Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>He stated that Israel will not allow Iran to grow stronger and produce quantities of missiles that will pose an existential threat to Israel.</p>
<p>”It is possible that there may be further barrages of gunfire in the future. To that end, we are working to remove this threat,” Dufferin added.</p>
<p class=”p1″><strong><em>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</em></strong></p>