Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet Tuesday morning after the jet entered its airspace, the first time such a thing has happened in about 25 years.

The pilots ejected safely into Syria, but the jet was shot down as it entered Israel's airspace, according to the Israeli military, The New York Times reported.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said Israel's air-defense system shot down the Russian-made fighter jet over the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights around 9:15 a.m. local time.

"We cannot tolerate any penetration of the Israeli airspace, so we had to shut him down even though we understand that his intention was not to attack us," General Shmueli said, adding that the aircraft had flown half a mile into Israeli airspace. "We are not involved in the war in Syria, and we don't have any intention to be involved. We have to keep our borders safe on one side but we have to make sure we are not part of this war."

Israel has responded similarly in the past to what it calls "errant fire" from the Syrian civil war. Syria borders Israel to the northeast. Israel shot down a Syrian drone in August.

Eitan Ben Eliyahu, a retired commander of the Israeli Air Force from 1996 to 2000, said he did not believe the Syrian jet's path into Israeli territory was done on purpose, because "the Syrian regime would not dare" to provoke Israel.

"It's hard to analyze and explain and assess the situation, because the situation is absurd," Ben Eliyahu said. "The fighting there is right on the border fence, and when planes are involved, because of their speed and altitude and ability to spot the targets, it is easy to make mistakes. We, of course, cannot permit this."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighter jet had been bombing areas near Quneitra, a Syrian town near the Israeli border, prior to being shot down, The Guardian reported.

Israel and Syria technically are still at war -- with a 1973 armistice remaining in place -- but the border between the two had been peaceful until the Syrian civil war pushed in that direction.