JERUSALEM - The Israeli military on Thursday refused to comment on Syrian reports that Damascus had fired on Israeli warplanes that had violated Syrian airspace.
"We do not comment on such reports," an army spokesman told AFP. Earlier the military said that it would check into the report.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made no reference to the reports when he made an address to a Kadima party event in Jerusalem late Thursday, and neither his office or the foreign ministry would comment.
Former defence minister Amir Peretz for his part said he hoped Israel "would take all measures needed to calm the situation to avoid an incident in the north," in comments reported on military radio.
"It is easy to provoke an incident but difficult to calm down afterwards," he added.
bur-jp/rl
09/06/2007 21:49 GMT