Russia: Deliberate israeli provocation led to plane downing

Russia blames Israeli warplanes for “creating a dangerous situation” that led to the shooting down of a Russian military plane by Syrian air defense systems, saying it reserves the right to give a due response to the hostile action.

The plane vanished from radar screens over Syria’s Latakia Province late Monday while Israeli and French forces were launching strikes against the Arab country.

Fifteen Russian military personnel were killed as the aircraft was coming to land at the Hmeymim air base in Latakia, which is run by Russian forces.

“The Israeli pilots used the Russian plane as cover and set it up to be targeted by the Syrian air defense forces,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“As a consequence, the Il-20, which has radar cross-section much larger than the F-16, was shot down by an S-200 system missile,” it said, adding Israel had warned Russia of an impending airstrike on Latakia only one minute beforehand.