JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After nearly a month of official silence, Israel confirmed on Tuesday that its air force carried out a strike inside Syrian territory on Sept 6.
Israel had until now refused to confirm or deny that any air strike had taken place, though the incident was publicly confirmed by Syrian and Western officials.
Israeli officials said the strike took place deep inside Syria last month.
Military censors continued to censor other details.
Damascus says Israel bombed an empty area after air defense systems confronted the aircraft.
Some U.S. officials have linked the raid to suspicions of secret nuclear cooperation between Damascus and North Korea. Damascus and North Korea have denied any nuclear ties.
Other reports suggested that the raid may have targeted Iranian arms bound for the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla movement.
Diplomats in Damascus say at least four Israeli warplanes crossed deep into Syria during last month's operation.
Syria and Israel are formally at war. Peace talks between them collapsed in 2000 over the scope of an Israeli pullout from the Golan Heights, a plateau which the Jewish state captured from Syria in 1967.
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