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Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman on the phone about the downing of the Russian Il-20 plane on Monday night. He relayed Moscow's position on the incident, which blames the Israeli military for setting up the Russian plane to be shot down by Syrian air defenses responding to an Israeli air raid, an official statement from the Russian military said."The Israeli pilots used the Russian plane as cover and set it up to be targeted by the Syrian air defense forces"
Shoigu reiterated that Israel failed to notify Russia of the impending attack in a way that would give the Russian military to move the Il-20 out of harm's way. Instead the warning came one minute before the Israeli F-16 fighter jets launched their attack.
"The blame for the downing of the Russian plane and the deaths of its crew members lies squarely on the Israeli side," the Russian minister said. "The actions of the Israeli military were not in keeping with the spirit of the Russian-Israeli partnership, so we reserve the right to respond."
"There was an agreement between Israel and Russia that the actions of Israel in Syria's airspace would not endanger lives of Russian troops. Israel breached this commitment... What happens next will depend on the position of Israel. Most likely, Israel will no longer be able to enjoy the same freedom in the sky of Syria as it did before the incident," Kedmi said.Putin has shared his initial thoughts:
"Israel's attack in itself, regardless of the consequences, was an irresponsible step, because there is not a single facility on the territory of Syria that might have been used by Iran and whose destruction would have justified an attack on it, which could endanger the Russian troops," Kedmi said.
"When people are dying - especially under such circumstances - it is always a tragedy," President Putin said during a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow on Tuesday.Update 22:30 CET
Responding to a reporter's question as to whether the incident in Latakia could be compared to the downing of the Russian Su-24 by Turkey in 2015, Putin said the two situations were "different."
Ankara "deliberately downed" the Russian jet, he explained, while the Il-20 incident "looks like a chain of tragic circumstances, because the Israeli plane didn't shoot down our jet."...
Russia will investigate the incident, Putin said, adding that Moscow will boost security of Russian troops in Syria following the incident. He said that these will be "the steps that everyone will notice."
The Russian military has pinpointed the location where the Ilyushin-20 aircraft fell into the Mediterranean, the Russian Defense Ministry told the media on Tuesday.Also, Sputnik reports that Putin has softened the Russian govt's stance on culpability:
"Taking part in the search for the crew of the Russian Ilyushin-20 plane, which crashed off Latakia, are eight ships and boats from Russia's Navy. By now, the aircraft's crash site in the Mediterranean has been identified. It's 27 kilometers west of Baniyas, in the Latakia province," the Defense Ministry said.
Russian ships have picked up body fragments, personal belongings and the plane's debris.
"Most certainly, we have to sort the case out most seriously. And our attitude to the tragedy is outlined in the Russian Defense Ministry's statement," he noted, adding he personally approved it.Nobody gets to declare Israel a regime beyond the pale, not even Putin.
Local man Ammar Altounji said the incident unfolded when he was walking with his friends on Monday.Russia has launched its investigation.
"Suddenly we heard a sound, but we didn't recognize what it was. Then we saw explosions...the explosions were very big. After that, we saw explosions in the middle of the sea...but we also didn't know what it was. [Then] we saw anti-aircraft guns firing, and we saw a missile launched to intercept the rockets that were falling."
He said that Israel has "targeted us more than once in the past few days" and urged the international community to "intervene to put an end to the Israeli incursions in Syrian airspace."
The Israeli raid injured 10 people, two of whom were taken to hospital, according to the state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV.
Resident Tarek Ahmed said he was spending time with his children when the incident occurred.
"We heard a very powerful explosion...we went to the balcony to see what was happening. Then the second explosion happened....then another explosion from the other side of the city...we saw a lot of rockets on the seaside and on the east side of the city."
Ahmed added that he hopes "Israeli aggression on Syria will end, and that we will live in peace."
Witness Alexander Erigen also expressed hope that attacks would soon come to an end, while thanking the Russian military for its work in "defending" Syria.
In an op-ed piece for The Jerusalem Post, Seth Frantzman blames the incident on the lack of communication between those involved in the Syrian conflict. However, he claimed there was a sense in the statement that Israel could have intentionally created a "complex stratagem" near Latakia to confuse the Syrian military. He cited Moscow's allegations that Israel had given Russian an advance warning just one minute before the attack, which didn't give the IL-20 time to descend and land at the Russian airbase.
He concluded that the Latakia incident had posed a risk to the "delicate balance" between Israel and Moscow in Syria. "The death of Russian servicemen cannot be ignored by Moscow and Russia shows that it doesn't want to accept that this was a terrible mistake, but rather sees the airstrikes as endangering Russian lives."
Israel Today argued that Russia's reaction to the downing of the plane shows that Russian President Putin "will not ignore the death of 15 of his servicemen."
Haaretz's Anshel Pfeffer, meanwhile, suggested that the crash was a "screw-up between the Russian and Syrian allies," but yielded that it could have been Israel's late notification that was partly to blame for it. He insisted that Israel was unlikely to seek to risk its de-confliction agreements with Russia in Syria. Anyway, he claimed, Israel would "have to take the rap in public" and to "limit itself" in the coming weeks and months.
The defense ministries of Russia and Turkey signed a memorandum on Monday on the stabilization of the situation in the zone of de-escalation in Syria's Idlib. The document was signed following bilateral talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, held on Monday in the Russian southern resort city of Sochi.The press statements by Putin and Erdogan:
Asked by a journalist whether it was true that no more military operations were planned to be held in Idlib, the Russian defense minister said "Yes [it is true]."
"In the hours to come, we plan to make final agreements with them [the Turkish side] on the remaining provisions, which are stipulated in this document," Shoigu said.
Comment: Shoigu's statement:
See also: