Syria: Moscow accuses Israel of deliberately endangering an airliner

The Russian military accused Israel on Friday of using an Airbus-320 with 172 passengers on board as a shield to escape a Syrian response to bombing the day before near Damascus airport. The Israeli Air Force bombed a suburb of the Syrian capital, provoking a Syrian anti-aircraft response, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.

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" At the time of the attack on Israeli planes (...) an Airbus-320 airliner was approaching, with a view to landing, " said the source, and he found himself in " the deadly area of aerial and artillery fire ”. Thanks to the " rapid action of the air traffic controllers at Damascus airport ", the A320 was able to " leave this area which was in the sights of the Syrian air defense systems ".

The plane, which linked Tehran to Damascus with 172 civilians on board, was able to land safely at the Russian base in Hmeimim, the statement said. " The use of civilian aircraft during military air operations to cover or block the response of Syrian forces has become a feature for the Israeli air force, " said the Russian ministry.

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Israeli radars have a " clear vision of the situation in the sky around Damascus airport ," said the Russian army, accusing Israel of " completely mocking the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. "

The statement comes less than a month after the Iranian armed forces admitted that they had “ mistakenly ” shot down the Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737 a few minutes after taking off from Tehran. Iran then feared an American response to Iranian raids in Iraq. All 176 people on board, mostly Iranians and Canadians, died.

Since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against positions of the Syrian army, but also of its steadfast allies, Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, enemies of the Hebrew state.

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