Israel 'first country' to carry out airstrikes with US-made F-35

Israel has become the first country to use the US-made F-35 stealth fighter in combat, the Israeli air force announced on Tuesday.

"We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts," Israeli air force chief Major-General Amikam Norkin said in a speech to 20 foreign air force chiefs in Israel.

Norkin also displayed a photograph of an Israeli F-35 overflying Beirut, local media said. He said that the stealth fighters participated in two previous airstrikes in Syria.

Israel was the first country outside the United States to acquire the F-35 after receiving the first two planes in December 2016.

At least nine have been delivered so far out of an order of 50.

"The F-35 will be a key element in assuring Israel's defence both along our borders as well as far from them," Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said last year.

Manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp, the F-35 is also known as the Joint Strike Fighter and, in Israel, by its Hebrew name "Adir", or Mighty.

Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes in Syria against suspected Iranian targets and arms transfer to Hizballah in Lebanon.

Its air forces is also widely believed to have operated over against Islamist militants in the Egyptian Sinai and Hamas arms smugglers in Sudan.