Russia says Syria shot down one of its military planes, blames Israel: RIA (UPDATED)
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UPDATE
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday 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.
On Tuesday, 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.
Earlier
A Russian military aircraft with 14 people on board has disappeared from radar after flying over Syria, Russia’s defence ministry says.
“Connection has been lost with the crew of a Russian Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea,” the ministry said. Contact was lost at about 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Monday, it added.
Reuters report that the aircraft disappeared from radar screens over Syria at the same time that Israeli and French forces were mounting aerial attacks on targets in Syria.
The plane was over the Mediterranean Sea about 35 km (20 miles) from the Syrian coastline, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.
“The trace of the Il-20 on flight control radars disappeared during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets on Syrian facilities in Latakia province,” the statement was quoted as saying.
“At the same time Russian air control radar systems detected rocket launches from the French frigate Auvergne which was located in that region.”
The fate of the 14 people on board the missing plane is unknown, and a rescue operation has been organized out of the Hmeymim base, the ministry said.
A U.S. official said Washington believed the aircraft, which is an Il-20 turbo-prop plane used for electronic reconnaissance, was inadvertently shot down by anti-aircraft artillery operated by Moscow’s ally, the Syrian government.
