Israel Considers Security Of Russian Military When Planning Any Operations In Syria - IDF

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2018) The security of the Russian servicemen is taken into account by Israeli military officials when approving any Israeli operation in Syria and will remain a priority in the future, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement was released after the Russian Defense Ministry again laid responsibility for the September 17 downing of the Il-20 aircraft with 15 servicemen on board on Israel.

"The safety and well-being of the Russian troops who operate in Syria are a focal component in every approval of any activity by senior officials in the IDF and in Israel," the statement says.

The IDF will continue to take all necessary measures, as it has been doing until this very day, to achieve this goal, the Israeli military assured.

The IDF also continued to insist on their non-involvement in the crash of the Il-20 and again expressed their condolences to the Russian people and the families of the killed servicemen.

The Russian Il-20 military aircraft, which was 22 miles off the Syrian coast, was shot down on September 17, while returning to the Hmeimim airbase. At the same time, four Israeli F-16 aircraft were bombing Syrian targets in the province of Latakia.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Israel notified Russia of the airstrikes only a minute before their start and provided misleading information concerning the area of the attack and the location of Israeli F-16 jets. The ministry said that the Israeli pilots used the Russian aircraft as a shield against Syrian air defense systems. As a result, the Il-20 jet was downed by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system at 10:03 p.m. local time (19:03 GMT). The incident claimed the lives of 15 Russian servicemen.

The Russian Defense Ministry placed the blame for the catastrophe on the Israeli Air Force and on those who had made the decision to carry out the airstrike. According to the ministry's data, the Russian side informed Israel of the tragedy at 10:29 p.m. local time, asking to call off F-16 fighter jets from the area of the incident, however, they continued to remain there until 10:40 p.m., as radars showed. It was not until 10:53 p.m that the Israeli side informed that its jets had left the area, meaning that a total of 50 minutes had passed since the Russian aircraft was hit by a missile.