Russian plane downed after hostile Israel act

Putin tries to defuse row after his defence ministry blames Tel Aviv jets’ raid for causing deaths of 15 crew

VLADIMIR PUTIN was yesterday forced to step in to defuse a row between Moscow and Tel Aviv after a Russian reconnaissance plane with 15 people on-board was mistakenly shot

down by Syrian forces that were targeting Israeli jets.

Russia’s defence ministry said that Israeli F-16 pilots were using its Ilyushin Il-20 turbo-prop aircraft signal as cover while carrying out strikes against targets in Latakia province and put it in the line of fire from Syrian missiles.

The aircraft was hit 22 miles off Latakia’s coast in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday evening as it was returning to a Russian airbase nearby.

Russian officials initially blamed Israel for the attack, with defence minister Sergei Shoigu warning that Moscow could respond to the attack. Mr Putin

later intervened to de-escalate the row between the two countries, which have an uneasy alliance despite backing opposing sides in the Syrian war, saying it was the result of “a chain of tragic chance events”.

“As for retaliatory measures, they will be aimed first and foremost at further ensuring the safety of our military personnel and facilities in Syria,” Mr Putin said.

Israel, which appears to have been targeting an ammunitions depot linked to the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah, denied it was its intention to provoke Syria into firing at the Russian plane.

However, the Russian defence ministry said they were given only a oneminute warning from Israel over their deconfliction hotline, leaving it with insufficient time to reach a safe area.

Israeli pilots carrying out attacks in Syria “used the Russian plane as a cover, exposing it to fire from Syrian air defences,” Igor Konashenkov, a Russian military spokesman, said in televised remarks.

“We consider these provocative actions by Israel as hostile. Fifteen Russian military service members died because of irresponsible actions of the Israeli military. It’s absolutely contrary

to spirit of Russia-israeli partnership,” he said. “We reserve right for adequate response.”

The Russian president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spoke over the phone to clear the air. Israel and Russia have so far managed to carefully coordinate military action in Syria.

Israel has carried out more than 200 attacks on Hizbollah and Iranian targets in the past few years in an attempt to stop its foes becoming too entrenched in the country. Moscow has never interfered.

However, the latest incident marks

the worst loss of Russian life to friendly fire since Moscow intervened in the conflict in 2015 and may change the way they view the Israeli raids, particularly so close to Russian bases.

Improving relations between the two countries has been a source of tension between Russia and its client state Syria, which is technically at war with Israel.

Russian troops were recently sent to the border of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to act as a buffer between Syrian forces and the Jewish state.

There can be no better example of Russia’s increasingly complex role in the endgame to Syria’s brutal civil war than Monday’s shooting down of a Russian plane by Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles operated by the Syrian military.

With the conflict showing every sign that seven years of horrendous blood-letting is drawing to a close, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is seeking to position himself as the true victor. Not content with achieving his initial aim of saving the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-assad, the Russian leader is seeking to dictate the terms of the conflict’s resolution.

Thus Mr Putin has been very much the driving force behind the agreement negotiated with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The two leaders agreed to establish a “demilitarised zone” between Syrian rebels and government forces in the northern city of Idlib, thereby averting the potential bloodbath many observers had predicted as the Syrian regime and their Russian backers sought to destroy the last remaining pockets of rebel resistance.

Sochi, of course, is the scene of another one of Mr Putin’s dubious diplomatic triumphs, as it was here that he ordered the illegal invasion and annexation of Crimea as the 2014 Winter Olympics drew to a close.

The shooting down on Monday of a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 transport aircraft with the loss of all 15 people on board will, though, take some of the gloss off Mr Putin’s latest attempt at statesmanship, especially as the disaster was caused by the crass incompetence of the Syrian military. Moreover, the circumstances in which the aircraft was shot down provide a graphic illustration of the perplexing complexity of the battlespace in the Syrian conflict, where distinguishing friend from foe is increasingly becoming a daily challenge.

Having initially blamed the Israelis for the attack, the Kremlin was then forced to concede that the aircraft had in fact been shot down by Syrian forces. To add insult to injury, Pentagon sources said the plane was hit by a Russian-made S-200 anti-aircraft missile that Moscow sold to the Assad government several years ago.

The real concern for the Russians, however, should be the intense military activity that was taking place before the aircraft was shot down.

Syrian air defences were on high alert after four Israeli F-16s attacked a Syrian military base near Latakia that the Israelis claim was being used by the Iranian-backed militia Hizbollah to build missiles for use against the Israeli state. It now looks as if the Syrians shot down the Russian aircraft believing it to be an Israeli warplane.

As a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Force remarked caustically after the event, the Russian warplane was hit by “extensive and inaccurate” Syrian fire which happened because the Syrian forces “did not bother to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air”.

One of the enduring features of the Syrian conflict has been the unwelcome involvement – at least from the West’s perspective – of other major regional players. Apart from Russia, Iran has been the other big backer of the Assad regime, to the extent that Moscow and Tehran have forged a close partnership. While this marriage of convenience has worked well in terms of keeping Assad in power, the Russians and Iranians do not necessarily see eye to eye when it comes to their respective ambitions for post-conflict Syria.

Mr Putin’s approach has always been based on the Kremlin’s desire to maintain the military presence it has enjoyed in Syria which dates back to the Cold War. The Iranians, by contrast, have a more ambitious plan, and believe that, in return for the heavy losses they and their Hizbollah allies have suffered in Syria, their reward should be to build a network of new military bases that enhances their ability to threaten Israel.

The Kremlin, though, has no interest in confronting Israel. On the contrary, Mr Putin enjoys cordial relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the extent that, on several occasions in recent months, the Russians have given their tacit approval for the Israelis to carry out air strikes against Iranian and Hizbollah positions in Syria.

Furthermore, Israel has made it abundantly clear that it will not allow Iran and its Hizbollah proxies to establish a new network of offensive positions in Syria, and Israel’s uncompromising position could spell trouble for Mr Putin’s love-in with the ayatollahs.

The tensions caused by Israel’s determination to prevent Syria becoming another Lebanon, a base from which Iran can threaten the security of Israeli population centres, have already resulted in the accidental shooting down of a Russian aircraft.

And Mr Putin’s claim to be the victor in the Syrian conflict, by keeping the Assad regime in power, could prove short-lived if his erstwhile allies in Tehran succeed in provoking a new regional war, one that this time involves the full might of the Jewish state.