Russia blames Israel after military plane shot down off Syria

Moscow : Russia’s Ministry of Defence said yesterday that the Syrian military had accidentally shot down a Russian military plane over Syria, but said it blamed the incident on Israel, the RIA news agency reported. The ministry had previously said that the plane had vanished from radar screens over Syria at the same time as Israeli and French forces were launching strikes on targets in Syria.

Yesterday, the ministry accused Israeli military planes of deliberately creating a “dangerous” situation near the Syrian city of Latakia — which is close to a Russian air base where it said the Il-20 aircraft was preparing to land, RIA reported. The Ministry of Defence said 15 Russian military service people had died because of what it described as Israel’s irresponsible actions. It said Israel had only warned it one minute before launching the strikes, RIA reported.

In another development,  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to defuse the crisis. Putin said it was the result of “tragic accidental circumstances.” Israel said it had targeted a Syrian military facility where weapons manufacturing systems were “about to be transferred on behalf of Iran” to Lebanese Shiite group Hizbollah. It sees Iran’s military presence in Syria as a threat, and Netanyahu told Putin by phone on Tuesday his forces would keep acting against it.

“Israel is determined to stop Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, and the attempts by Iran, which calls for the destruction of Israel, to transfer to Hezbollah lethal weaponry (to be used) against Israel,” said Netanyahu. Israel expressed “sorrow” for the Russian deaths, but insisted the Russian plane had been felled by “extensive and inaccurate Syrian anti-aircraft (surface-to-air missile) fire.”