The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Israel bears full responsibility for the incident, in which the Syrian Army shot down a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft. According to a Russian report presented by the Defense Ministry in Moscow, the Israeli Air Force deceived their Russian counterparts by submitting false information regarding the area of the September 17th attack, which subsequently prevented the Russian plane from avoiding the danger zone. Furthermore, the Israeli military informed Russia of its intention to attack a Syrian industrial zone, just one minute before it carried out the attack. Major General Igor Konashenkov, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman stated “Israel did not inform the Russian force about its operation in advance – but rather they issued a warning simultaneously with the beginning of the strikes, which constitute a breach of the existing agreements. These actions constitute a clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements aiming to prevent clashes between our armed forces, in and over Syria, that were reached by the joint working group. “/ “I would like to stress that during the negotiations via the deconfliction channel, the representative of the Israeli Air Force Command reported that the targets assigned to the Israeli aircraft are located in Northern Syria. The talk was conducted in Russian. The Russian Defense Ministry has a record of the conversation. The commander of the Ilyushin IL-20 flying over the north of Syria received an order to leave the mission area and head south to return back to the military base. As you can see on the map, the Israeli jets delivered strikes in Latakia which is a western province of the country – and not in the north of the Syrian Arab Republic. The city of Latakia is located on the western coast. The misleading information provide by the Israeli officer about the area of strikes did not allow the Russian IL-20 aircraft to move timely to a safe area.” / “The presented objective data testify that the actions of Israeli fighter pilots, which let to the loss of life of 15 Russian servicemen, either lack professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence to say the least. Therefore, we believe that the blame for the tragedy with the Russian Ilyushin IL-20 aircraft lies entirely with the Israeli Air Forces and those who made the decision to carry out such actions. Major General Igor Konashenkov, referred to the actions taken by the Israeli Air Force as either ‘lacking professionalism’ or ‘criminally negligent.’ According to Moscow, Israeli actions “resulted in the downing of the Russian plane and the death of its 15 air service men.”
Meanwhile, the IDF spokesperson’s unit released an extensive statement, vehemently rejecting Moscow’s accusations against Israel. According to the data the Israeli Air Force presented to their Russian counterparts last week, the Israeli fighter-jets had already reached Israel’s airspace, before the Syrian military launched its surface-to-air missiles toward the Russian reconnaissance aircraft. The statement further asserted that “The cooperation between the IDF and the Russian military has proved itself many times in recent years,” and is in the “common interest” of both countries “in light of regional challenges.” The statement also underscored Israel’s ongoing consideration of Russian military forces in Syria, ahead of every military operation executed within Israel’s hostile northern neighbor. Nevertheless, the IDF emphasized that the Israeli interests in the region, including “Iran’s unceasing attempts to establish itself in Syria and arm (its proxy) Hezbollah with lethal and precise weapons,” will be defended no matter the consequence.