Saturday, September 22, 2018

Russia & Israel at odds over cause of Il-20 crash after Israeli air force chief’s Moscow talks

Russia and Israel agreed to continue their military coordination in Syria, although Israel’s Air Force chief Maj.-Gen Amikam Nurkin and Russian officers differed sharply on the circumstances which caused the Russian Il-20 spy plane to crash last Monday. The absence of a joint Russian-Israel communique summing up a day and-a-night of intense interviews upon the departure of the Israeli delegation on Friday, Sept. 21 indicated that each side adhered to is own version of the event and the crisis between Moscow and Jerusalem is not over. According to a subsequent IDF announcement, the coordination mechanism between Israel and the Russian command in Syria was nonetheless functioning “routinely.”
The Israeli military tried to put a positive face on the Moscow talks, describing them as friendly and positive, including even an Israeli invitation to the Russian investigators to come to Israel to further pursue their inquiries. This was in striking contrast to the hostile Russian media coverage of the tough interviews. The Russians insisted that, when Syrian air defenses shot down the Russian Ilyushin-20 spy plane, an Israeli air raid was still ongoing in Latakia, whereas the IDF probe established that the Israeli fighter jets had returned to home base.
That was one of several points of discord.

A senior IDF officer briefed reporters Friday on the most prominent:
  • Syrian anti-air fire was “reckless, irresponsible and unprofessional and the direct cause of downing the Russian aircraft.”
  • The plane was struck by large Syrian SA-5 anti-air missiles.
  • The Syrian missile barrage went on for 40 minutes – after Israel planes were gone and landing at their home base.
  • A video recording of the conversation between the Israeli Air Force Command in Tel Aviv and the Russian Khmeimim Air Base proves that Israel gave the Russians much longer than one minute’s notice of the coming air raid over Latakia and disproves the Russian claim.
  • The Israeli delegation presented evidence disproving the Russian MoD’s accusation that the Israeli jets acted provocatively in using the Russian aircraft against Syrian missiles.
  • The IDF’s investigation of the incident as presented in Moscow covered three main points:
    1.  Evidence of Iran’s deepening military presence in Syria.
    2. Tehran’s exploitation of Syria for funneling strategic weapons to Hizballah.
    3. The Israel air raid over Latakia and how the Russian reconnaissance plane came to be shot down by Syrian air defense fire. READ MORE