Israel tries to blame Syria for plane downing

AL ASSAD FORCES TARGETING ISRAELI JETS HIT RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT; 15 ON BOARD KILLED

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday, following the downing of a Russian plane off the Syrian coast. Netanyahu’s office said he placed the blame for the shooting down of the aircraft on Syria. Earlier, Russia’s Defence Ministry warned it may respond to “hostile” actions by the Israeli regime after one of its military reconnaissance planes was mistakenly downed by the Damascus regime with an S-200 air-defence missile as it attempted to fight off the Israeli planes.

But Putin tried to calm the situation, saying it was the result of “tragic accidental circumstances”.

All 15 people aboard the plane died late on Monday, according to a ministry statement reported by state news services RIA Novosti and Tass. Four Israeli warplanes were striking targets in the Syrian province of Latakia when the Il-20 plane went off the radar about 35km from the Mediterranean coast as it returned to base, according to the ministry.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu blamed Israel’s “irresponsible” actions for the deaths of the servicemen in a call with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, yesterday, according to the ministry.

The plane’s loss probably won’t have a long-lasting impact, said Alexander Shumilin, head of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Middle East Conflicts. “It wasn’t a deliberate act and it wasn’t an Israeli strike that shot the aircraft down, it was a Syrian one.” Israel regularly attacks Iranian-backed targets inside Syria, with Russia usually refraining from any action.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the episode won’t affect the “landmark” deal reached over Idlib on Monday.

The Syria pact with Erdogan came just over a week after Putin rejected the Turkish leader’s call for a ceasefire in the area and is the latest example of the Kremlin’s tense balancing act among the rival factions in the Syrian conflict.

Institute targeted

The regime’s SANA news agency said the Technical Industry Institution in the regimecontrolled city had been targeted. “Air defences have confronted enemy missiles coming from the sea in the direction of the Latakia city, and intercepted a number of them,” SANA quoted a military source as saying.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some missiles did get through and struck ammunition depots at the site of the institute.

Rami Abdul Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitoring group, said at least two fighters were killed and 10 wounded in the strike.

The observatory said huge explosions were heard in the city. It was not immediately clear what activities the state institution was engaged in.

A witness in Latakia said that he spotted four missiles downed by Syrian air defences.

One of the missiles fell in an open area to the west of central Homs city causing a fire in an orchard, Ikhbariya TV said.

It said electricity was later fully restored to Latakia province, a stronghold of President Bashar Al Assad, after there was partial blackout due to the attack.

–Agencies