Israel, Russia Continue Dialogue On Il-20 Plane Crash Via Closed Channels - Minister

Israel and Russia continue maintaining contacts on the incident with the Russian Il-20 military jet, which was shot down in Syria earlier in September, via closed channels, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

TEL AVIV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th September, 2018) Israel and Russia continue maintaining contacts on the incident with the Russian Il-20 military jet, which was shot down in Syria earlier in September, via closed channels, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

Lieberman once again rejected accusations of the Israeli Air Force's involvement in the incident that killed 15 Russian servicemen and put the blame for the tragedy on the Syrian army, stressing that Israel complied with all agreements with Russia on the prevention of conflict situations.

"We have attacked Iranian or Hezbollah targets in Syria for 200 times in recent years. No Russian soldier was even scratched, because we carefully adhere to all agreements, all contacts, all coordination, all points of interaction with the Russian side. It is strange that for the 201st time we would have violated this. The entire responsibility lies on the army of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad ... Our contacts with the Russian side continue via closed channels," Lieberman told the Channel 9 in an interview.

Asked whether Israel would continue operating in Syria under new conditions the same way as it was before, the minister said that Israel would always defend its interests.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military-political leadership instructed the country's armed forces to continue to act against Iranian military presence in Syria, maintaining coordination with Russia on security issues.

On September 17, the Russian Hmeimim air base in Syria lost contact with the crew of the military aircraft, which was monitoring the situation on the ground in Syria's Idlib province. At the same time, four Israeli F-16 jets were hitting Syrian targets in Latakia province. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Israel had notified the Russian military of its airstrikes only one minute before their start and failed to provide the location of its bombers to Russia. As a result, the Il-20 was caught in the crossfire and downed by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system.

Russia has blamed the incident on Israel and said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used the Russian Il-20 as a shield.

On Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced measures to boost security for Russian servicemen in response to the Il-20 crash. According to the minister, Russia would equip the Syrian air defense forces' command posts with automatic control systems, which had previously been possessed only by Russia. Russian systems will also carry out radio-electronic suppression of satellite navigation, airborne radars and combat communications systems of aircraft, attacking Syrian targets. Moscow will also deliver S-300 air defense systems to Syria.