(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - The report by the Russian Defense Ministry about Syria's downing of the Russian spy plane in Latakia last week - which blamed Israel - ignores the findings of the investigation conducted in Israel and presented by the Israel Air Force chief in Moscow. The report was intended to fabricate excuses to the Russian public about the failures of its forces deployed in Syria. The proof that the Russian officers in the Khmeimim Air Base did not read the battle correctly is the fact that the first message they sent to the Defense Ministry in Moscow was about missile launches from a French frigate in the Mediterranean at Syrian army targets in Latakia. Another blunder was that the Russians did not provide its Syrian allies with the electronic signals which identifies their planes as Russian. Moreover, the Russian officers who jointly operate the Syrian air defenses failed to properly supervise the Syrian anti-aircraft fire. Russian officers were there and they can surely recognize Russian planes, but someone failed in their professional responsibility. The Russian claim that the Israeli F-16s approached Latakia as the Russian spy plane was about to land at Khmeimim Air Base is an outright lie and the Russians were given photographic evidence to prove it. At the time of the plane's downing, all the Israeli planes were already in Israeli airspace and the only target the Russians and the Syrians saw on their radar was the Russian plane.
2018-09-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive