The Israeli military accused the Syrian air defense forces for shooting down a Russian plane, AP reported. 

According to the statement, the Russian plane was hit by “extensive and inaccurate” Syrian fire and “did not bother to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air.”

Israel has expressed sorrow for the deaths of Russian aircrew and is blaming also the militant Hezbollah group and Iran for the incident.

According to the statement, Israeli jets had targeted a Syrian weapons facility and were already back within Israeli airspace when the incident happened.

As reported earlier, a Russian IL-20 military aircraft heading to the Hmeymim airbase went off radar late on September 17. According to Russian Defense Ministry, the incident took place during an attack by four Israeli jets on Syrian targets in the province of Latakia.

According to Russian Defense Ministry, because of the provocative actions of Israeli fighters, who struck Syria, the Syrian air defense missiles launched a missile on the Russian Il-20. A total of 15 Russian servicemen were killed as a result of an incident.