JERUSALEM — Syria’s announcement that it opened fire on Israeli aircraft invading its airspace has raised the question of why Israel would want to heighten tensions just days after stating that war with its enemy to the north was unlikely.

Israel refuses to comment on Syria’s claim. But the Jewish state would have reason to fly over northern Syria: to collect information about long-range missiles pointed at Israel, to test Syrian air defense, or to try out a possible air route to its archenemy Iran.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency on Thursday quoted a military official as saying that Israeli jets broke the sound barrier flying over northern Syria, then “dropped munitions” onto deserted areas after being shot at by Syria’s air defenses.

A Syrian government newspaper warned that the country “possesses the means to respond ... so that it will deter Israel against proceeding with such unpredictable adventures.”

The charge was the latest episode in tensions between the decades-old enemies that grew with Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon last summer.

Frictions between the two countries abated slightly in recent weeks with announcements by Israeli and Syrian leaders that they were not interested in hostilities. Israel’s army said it had determined that war with Syria is unlikely after Syria began rotating forces out of the contested Golan Heights.

But Israel sees Syria as one of its greatest foes, and watches it closely. Israel is wary of Syria’s warming ties with Iran, an even bigger enemy in Israeli eyes, and its support for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Israel’s air force may have been testing an air path to Iran, in case it decides to carry out an attack against that country’s nuclear facilities, analysts said.

The corridor of northern Syria where the aircraft allegedly flew over is the closest straight line from the Mediterranean Sea, where Israel has easy access, to Iran. The area is separated from Iran only by Iraqi Kurdistan, a region whose rulers would almost surely allow either Israel or the U.S. to fly over.

Such a route is far from the safest, however, as Israel could also reach Iran through the friendly air space of Turkey or Jordan, if they agreed. Even so, analysts said Israel would want to consider all options.

Israel says it prefers to let the international community confront Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but a lone Israeli attack is not out of the question. The country sees Iran, whose president has repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction, as an existential threat. Iran insists its nuclear program is for energy, not weapons.

“Of course Israel wants to let the Americans do that,” said Ephraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. “But if we are left alone, the Israeli army is preparing to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat — if the political level allows it to — and this could have been a part of that.”

Israel’s air force does carry out reconnaissance flights over Syria, but is usually undetected, Inbar said.

Israeli Science Minister Ghaleb Majadleh told an Israeli Arab newspaper A Ssennara Friday that he did not believe the incident would lead to war, saying Israeli incursions into Syrian air space are common.

“This may have been a reconnaissance flight, which Israel conducts time to time, to check out Syrian ports where Iranian and Russian ships are carrying advanced weapons,” said Eyal Zisser, director of Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center.

If Israeli aircraft did fly over Syria, the goal was probably not to send a warning signal to Syria since tensions have dropped in recent weeks. Israel has during times of friction sent warplanes to fly over Syria as a type of threat. Last year it flew over the Syrian president’s palace in Damascus after Syrian-backed Hamas militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier, and in 2003 it bombed an Islamic Jihad installation in Syria.

“It is hoped ... that the two countries will agree to contain this incident, if indeed it took place, and it appears they will do so,” Inbar said. “But the status quo between the two countries has been cracked.”