Israeli delegation heads to Moscow after downing of Russian plane – but denies responsibility

Officials will also detail Iran’s ongoing activities in Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday (Reuters)

Israel dispatched a high-powered military delegation to Moscow on Thursday to patch up relations after the deadly downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane on Monday – the Kremlin had pinned blamed on Israel.

Syrian anti-aircraft missiles downed the Russian Il-20M turbo-prop plane, killing all 15 crew members off the coast of the port city of Lattakia.

But Moscow blamed Israeli jets launching an airstrike on Syrian positions for the mishap, accusing them of triggering the S-200 anti-aircraft system by flying in too close in an attempt to destroy a facility allegedly used by Iranians to facilitate the transfer of weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Israel air force commander Maj Gen Amikam Norkin will head the delegation that includes other Israel Defence Forces and military intelligence officials, according to Israeli media.

To make its case, Israel will argue that the mishap was purely the fault of the Syrian government, said a former official.

“From what we understand it’s a huge mistake which was done by the Syrians,” retired Israeli Maj Gen Yaakov Amidror, a former National Security Advisor, told reporters in a conference call Thursday morning.

“They shot down a Russian plane that does not have any kind of [similarity] to any Israeli airplane.”

In addition, Maj Gen Amirdor said, the Israeli F-16 fighter jets were no longer in Syria when the Russian plane was downed.

“Our airplanes were above Israel when they killed the Russian airplane,” he said, attributing the incident to Syrian “stupidity.”

Israeli media said the military delegation will also detail Iran’s ongoing activities in Syria to the Russians.

Israel covets its relations with Moscow, and has built on generally amicable relations between Russian president Vladimir Putin and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gain unfettered access to Syrian airspace to curtail Iranian ambitions.

“For us it’s a very high-priority mission to prevent the Syrians and the Iranians to move game-changing weapons systems into the hands of Hezbollah and to prevent Iran from building an independent war machine inside Syria,” said Maj Gen Amidror. “It will not be easy if there will be some limitations from the Russians.”

The downing of the plane has raised tensions across the region, where Russia, Turkey, the US, Iran, and Israel are vying for position in a Syria shattered by seven years of war.

Even though plane was shot down by the Syrian regime, Israeli authorities have come under some heat for the incident.

“A military operation, no matter how sophisticated, that ends with a superfluous diplomatic crisis with a world power cannot be considered a success,” wrote Alex Fishman in the mass circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

“Even if the military objectives had been achieved, this is a failure because in the Middle East there are no free lunches,” he continued.

“Israel will still pay for the fact that the Russians lost an electronic reconnaissance plane carrying 15 expert intelligence officers and an aircrew.”