BEIRUT: Syria accidentally shot down a Russian military aircraft, killing all 15 crew members, when its air defence system swung into action against an Israeli missile strike, Russian and Israeli forces said on Tuesday.

The incident late on Monday was the most deadly known case of friendly fire between Syria and its key backer Russia since Moscow’s game-changing 2015 military intervention in the war-torn country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was the result of “tragic accidental circumstances”.

The Russian Ilyushin dropped off the radar over the Mediterranean moments after Turkey and Russia announced a deal that offered millions of people reprieve from a threatened military assault in northern Syria.

Syrian air force was busy taking action against Israeli missile strike when the ‘accident’ occurred

There was no immediate word from Damascus, but the deadly chain of events started when Israeli missiles struck the coastal region of Latakia on Monday.

Israel confirmed that it had targeted a Syrian military facility where weapons manufacturing systems were “about to be transferred on behalf of Iran” to Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah.

It expressed “sorrow” for the Russian deaths, but insisted the Russian plane had been felled by “extensive and inaccurate Syrian anti-aircraft (surface-to-air missile) fire”. The plane, downed by Syria’s Russian-made S-200 air defence system, had a crew of 15 who were all killed, Moscow said.

The Russian military accused Israeli pilots of using “the Russian plane as a cover, exposing it to fire from Syrian air defences”.

Israel denied the accusations, saying its jets were already back in Israeli airspace when Syrian forces launched the missiles that hit the Russian plane.

Russia stressed that the incident would have no impact on the fledging Idlib deal, but warned Israel of reprisals and summoned its envoy in Moscow.

However, Putin rejected any comparison with Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet in 2015. “It rather looks like a chain of tragic accidental circumstances,” he told reporters. “An Israeli jet did not shoot down our plane.”

Moscow had earlier said rockets were fired from a French frigate in the same area of the Mediterranean, but the French military denied any involvement.

Spokesman Col Patrik Steiger told AFP the frigate Auvergne “did not fire anything last night”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some missiles did get through the Syrian defences and struck ammunition depots at the site of the technical industries institute.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2018