militaryarms.ru
Israel claimed the lives of 15 Russian military personnel, TASS cites the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. They were on board of the IL -20 military aircraft which was shot down by the Syrian air defense system as a result of provocation by Israel, the general maintains.
Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets used the IL-20 as a cover putting it in the line of the Syrian air defense’s fire. So, the IL-20 plane, which has a far wider effective reflective area compared to the F-16 jets, was downed by a missile launched from an S-200 complex," Igor Konashenkov says. It happened last night near the city of Latakia.
The Defense Ministry representative stressed that Israel's planes deliberately created a situation dangerous both for ships and for aircraft in the area.
Meanwhile, Israeli pilots and aviation equipment could not help noticing the Russian plane. In addition, Israel has not warned about this operation. The hotline got the message just in seconds before the strike, so the Russian command did not have time to withdraw the plane from the danger zone.
Moscow called the Israeli military actions hostile and pointed at the right of an appropriate response.
Russkiy Mir
