MOSCOW: Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that Israeli air forces nearly shot down a passenger jetliner in Syria during a missile strike on the suburbs of Damascus a day earlier.
The allegation comes as tensions run high in Syria, where fighting has escalated in the northern province of Idlib. Syrian regime forces, backed by the Russian military, have clashed with Turkish troops that support the opposition there after failing to observe a cease-fire.
The news of the alleged near miss came amid jitters just a month after a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. Iran said the plane was mistakenly shot down by its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said the strike was carried around 2 a.m. local time on Thursday. He said four Israeli F-16 fighter jets hit the suburbs of Damascus with eight missiles without taking into account that a passenger plane with 172 civilians on board was preparing to land at the city’s airport around the same time.
FASTFACT
Four Israeli F-16 fighter jets hit the suburbs of Damascus with eight missiles without taking into account that a passenger plane with 172 civilians on board was preparing to land in the city’s airport around the same time.
Konashenkov didn’t name the airline or flight number, saying only that it was an Airbus-320 en route from Tehran that “came near to entering the zone of a deadly anti-aircraft missile and artillery fire.”
He said the plane had to make an emergency landing at Hmeimeem Air Base, which is operated by the Russian military, some 300 km north of Damascus.
Meanwhile, Russian officials will arrive in Turkey on Saturday for talks aimed at stopping the Syrian regime’s offensive in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region and halt a humanitarian catastrophe there.
Speaking at a news conference in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu repeated that Turkey would do whatever is necessary to stop a humanitarian tragedy in Idlib, where on Thursday Russian-led Syrian forces entered the strategic town of Saraqeb.
“A delegation from Russia will arrive in Turkey. We will hold talks. Our goal is to stop the (Syrian) regime’s aggression and move the political process forward,” Cavusoglu said, adding the Russians would arrive on Saturday.
