| Tango01 | 17 Sep 2018 10:28 p.m. PST |
…. Missing Off The Coast Of Syria. Went Off Radar During Latakia Attack. "A Russian Il-20 aircraft went off radar near Hmeymim airbase in Syria Monday evening, coinciding with an attack on the province of Latakia. The Russian Defence Ministry reported that the Russian Il-20 aircraft went off radar near Hmeymim airbase in Syria. The plane carried 14 servicemen; their fate is unknown. "On September 17, at about 11 p.m. Moscow time [20:00 GMT], the communication with the crew of the Russian Il-20 aircraft was lost when it was over the Mediterranean Sea, some 35 kilometers from the Syrian coast, on its way back to Hmeimim airbase," the report said…."
Main page
link This does not look good. Not good at all. Israeli aircraft were in the vicinity, so the blame is probably going to be directed at them. Amicalement
Armand |
 McKinstry   | 17 Sep 2018 10:48 p.m. PST |
Israel and Russia have a fairly good relationship with Russia currently backing the Israeli desire to see Iran fail to maintain a presence in Syria post-civil war. Russia will not be blaming Israel. |
| jdginaz | 17 Sep 2018 11:05 p.m. PST |
CNN has reported that the plane was accidently shot down by the Syrians during the raid. link |
| Thresher01 | 17 Sep 2018 11:17 p.m. PST |
Their Syrian allies shot it down. With "Allies" like that, who needs enemies. Almost like an own-goal – Russian weaponry downs Russian plane. Call me a cynic, put perhaps karma's way of punishing the Russians for trying to blame the Malaysian Air shootdown on the Ukrainians again today. The timing is certainly very coincidental. |
| Barin1 | 18 Sep 2018 2:59 a.m. PST |
MoD confirmed the plane was shot by Syrian Army. However, Israel is blamed for one minute warning to Russia of their strike, so Il-20 had no time to get out of the shootout zone. There was a talk between 2 ministers of defence this morning, so even that I doubt that there will be exchange of strikes any time soon, there's plenty of opportunities to create more problems to Israel.
Also interesting that Israel and France made their move the same day Idlib agreement was signed between Turkey and Russia. |
 Editor in Chief Bill  | 18 Sep 2018 5:23 a.m. PST |
"The Israeli pilots were using the Russian aircraft as a shield and pushed it into the line of fire of the Syrian defense," Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. link |
| Barin1 | 18 Sep 2018 5:29 a.m. PST |
Actually there was nothing about "pushing" the plane. It sounds ridiculous, bcs. the translation is wrong. "The Israeli pilots used the Russian plane as cover and set it up to be targeted by the Syrian air defense forces. As a consequence, the Il-20, which has radar cross-section much larger than the F-16, was shot down by an S-200 system missile,"
The Russian ministry said the Israelis must have known that the Russian plane was present in the area, but this did not stop them from executing "the provocation." Israel also failed to warn Russia about the planned operation in advance. The warning came just a minute before the attack started, which "did not leave time to move the Russian plane to a safe area," the statement said.
link |
| skipper John | 18 Sep 2018 5:48 a.m. PST |
So Syria shot it down but, it's Israel's fault…. Somehow that makes sense??!!!!!!! |
| Barin1 | 18 Sep 2018 6:02 a.m. PST |
If you look at Israel reaction, it seems there is a sense.
Communication channel was established to prevent such incidents, and they had to use it. They've used it 1 minute before attack, which is a mockery of a protocol.
Now, they're blaming Hezbollah and Iran for the downing of the plane (if they were not making weapons in Latakia, then this strike would not be necessary…etc etc), express "deepest sorrow", and this is not what Israel is normally doing using their military without any restrictions.
There will be an investigation, so we'll see how the story unwraps. |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 18 Sep 2018 6:23 a.m. PST |
Sounds like the S-200 system made an error. |
| 15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 18 Sep 2018 7:28 a.m. PST |
Sounds like the Il-20 was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Israeli F-16I Sufas attacked Syrian targets close enough to it for indiscriminate Syrian SAM's to shoot it down. Not the Israelis' fault, and they're under no obligations to warn the Russians and lose the element of surprise. |
| Lion in the Stars | 18 Sep 2018 8:03 a.m. PST |
Had the Israelis shot that Russian plane down, we could be looking at a large Russian response. Even the US gave the Russians more than a minute of warning when we Tomahawked the crap out of that last Syrian base. (Well, technically we gave them a deconfliction line of latitude and said anything south of the line was flying there at it's own risk.) Barin is right, if you have a communication system set up for keeping other nations out of your OPAREA you need to use it! |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 18 Sep 2018 10:37 a.m. PST |
indiscriminate Syrian SAM's that's the issue |
| Tango01 | 18 Sep 2018 11:04 a.m. PST |
Agree with Barin also…. Amicalement
Armand |
| Thresher01 | 18 Sep 2018 1:05 p.m. PST |
Well, if the Russians/Syrians weren't permitting Iran to arm the Hezbos and other factions, none of this would be necessary. You choose your allies and take your chances. Seems Russia chose wrong. |
| Ghostrunner | 18 Sep 2018 1:10 p.m. PST |
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| Barin1 | 18 Sep 2018 1:49 p.m. PST |
Netanyahu called Putin to explain something and then proposed to send his air force commander to Moscow. Not sure what are relations between them in Israel, bcs. this Moscow visit is not going to be easy.
There's a wave of anti-Israel posts on social networks, and all half-buried anti-semits have shown up. |
