Posts
ISRAEL
CLAIMS RUSSIAN VERSION OF IL-20 INCIDENT IS FAKE
23
September, 2018
On
September 23, the Israeli military rejected the Russian accusation
that it was behind the downing of the Il-20 intelligence plane on
September 17 and
insisted that the coordinate mechanism with Russia was used properly
prior to the incident.
“The deconfliction mechanism operated in the relevant timeframe (as it has been operating over the last two and a half years,” the Israeli military said in an official statement.
Furthermore,
the Israeli military repeated its claims that Israeli Air Force (IAF)
warplanes were in Israeli airspace at the time of the downing of the
Russian plane. The Israeli military went on to blame Syria for the
incident once again and vowed to continue its operations against
Iranian forces in the war torn country.
“The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] will continue to operate in accordance with the directives of the Israeli Government against Iran’s incessant attempts to establish itself in Syria and to arm the terrorist organization Hezbollah with lethal and accurate weapons,” the Israeli military statement reads.
Earlier, the
Ministry of Defense of Russia released a radar map that
proves IAF warplanes hide behind the Il-20 before it was hit by
Syrian air defense fire. The ministry also confirmed that Israel
informed it only one minute ahead of the airstrike and provided false
info about the location of the target.
Independent
observers said that the radar map released by the Russian MoD was
plausible, which indicates that Israel lied about the location of its
warplanes during the incident.
Israel’s
refusal to recognize its mistake and its insistence on conducting new
attacks will likely lead to more tension with Russia. The situation
may escalate further if Israel launched new attacks without improving
the coordinate mechanisms with Russia.
There has been absolute silence on this story in the western media - are they waiting for instructions? - but not the Israeli media.
IDF and Russian army on collision course in Syria
23
September, 2018
The
Russian Ministry of Defense leveled several grave charges against
Israel on Sunday, Sept. 23 as having caused the loss of the Russian
IL-20 plane with 15 servicemen aboard. IDF sources responded that the
Russians are hiding their own military lapses with “lies” against
Israel over the downing of the Russian plane by Syrian air defenses
on Sept. 17.
DEBKAfile:
This exchange of insults is not helpful in the light of reports from
a Kremlin source that President Vladimir Putin has decided not to let
the negative MoD report mar his friendly ties with Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu, and to let its aspersions remain in the
“professional” domain. (i.e. versus the IDF and IAF).
The
IDF was rocked back by the Russian accusations (which are summarized
below.) Israeli officers had pretended optimistically that all was
well between the two militaries after Air Force chief Maj. Gen.
Amikam Nurkin’s briefing to Russian officers in Moscow last
Thursday. Then came the Russian report, which ignored the data he
presented them from the IDF investigation.
DEBKAfile’
sources stress that whichever of the two armies is telling the truth
and which is lying about the circumstances of the crash, overarching
it all is a grave dispute that has flared between two armies
belonging to opposing coalitions fighting in the same country: Russia
on the same side as Syria, Iran and Hizballah; and the IDF, aligned
with the US and Western allies. This is a new landscape in the
constantly changing Syrian conflict and it is loaded with inflammable
elements.
Putin
may continue to smile at Netanyahu, while at the same time directing
his defense ministry to close Syrian air space against all foreign
aircraft, not just Israeli warplanes. This would shut down Israel’s
air campaign for eradicating Iran’s military grip on Syria – or
bring it in conflict with Russian forces. This would happen if the US
and Israel decided for their part, to put Putin’s directive to the
test. Therefore, just as Russia’s air force is no doubt planning
its next steps in Syria, so too are the US and Israel.
The
Russian MoD report summarized
DoD
spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Israel’s Air Force had
misled Russia about the location of its planned strikes in Syria,
preventing the Russian reconnaissance plane from moving to a safe
zone and leading to its destruction. “During the negotiations via
the deconfliction channel, the Israeli Air Force Command reported
that the targets are located in Northern Syria … [whereas] the
Israeli jets delivered strikes in Latakia [in the west].”
Israel
furthermore failed to warn Russia in advance about the coming
operation – only just when it began, in breach of the 2015
Russian-Israeli agreements for preventing clashes between our armed
forces, in and over Syria,” he said.
Gen.
Konashenkov then repeated his original charge that Israeli F-16
fighter jets had used the Russian aircraft as a “shield” against
Syrian air defense fire. He contradicted the IDF’s claim that its
jets had reached Israeli airspace by the time the Syrian missiles hit
the Russian plane, maintaining that the F-16s left the area 10
minutes after being informed of the crash.
Finally,
the Russian spokesman denounced the actions of the Israeli fighter
pilots – either as “lacking in professionalism” or acts of
“criminal negligence.” The IAF and its superiors were therefore
“entirely” to blame for the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 tragedy.
The
Russian report on the air disaster challenged the earlier Israeli
military probe on every key point. The IDF spokesman attributed the
Russian plane crash to extensive, inaccurate Syrian anti-aircraft
fire, which was indiscriminate and did not ensure there were no
Russian planes in the air. The Israeli spokesman maintained that when
the Syrian missiles struck the Russian IL-20, IAF jets were already
back inside Israeli airspace, and that during the Israeli air raid
over Latakia, the Russian plane was not within the area of the
operation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.