Russia To Release Report On Israel’s Role In Downing Of Plane In Syria

Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to publish a “minute-by-minute” timeline of the events that led to the downing last week of one of its military aircrafts in Syria, which resulted in the deaths of fifteen servicemen on board. The plane was shot out of the sky by a Syrian-manned, Russian-made S-200 air defense system, which was deployed in the midst of an Israeli attack on a weapons manufacturing facility in Latakia. Whereas Moscow immediately blamed the incident on Israel’s “hostile” and “irresponsible” actions, President Vladimir Putin thereafter partially defused the crisis by attributing the occurrence to a “chain of tragic circumstances.” In this respect, the Israeli army concluded that Syrian forces operated the defense system “indiscriminately”—firing missiles repeatedly for up to forty minutes—and that the four F-16s reportedly involved in the mission had long re-entered Israel’s air space by the time the Russian carrier was hit. An Israeli delegation led by the head of the air force traveled to Moscow last week to present the findings of a preliminary investigation. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed “regret” over the deaths of the Russians in a phone call with Putin, but nevertheless placed full responsibility on the shoulders of Syria and its allies, primarily Iran. According to Arab media reports, Russia is considering closing the airspace over Syrian territorial waters in response to the event, a move that could greatly inhibit Israel’s operational ability to curb Iran’s military build-up in the country and to target convoys of advanced armaments destined for Hizbullah in Lebanon.