(Algemeiner) Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin - a former Israeli military intelligence chief who now heads the Institute for National Security Studies - dismissed on Friday Russia's claim that the Israel Air Force had endangered a civilian plane during an air strike in Syria on Thursday. "Probably, the Russians were prewarned about the strike over the deconfliction channels. But some in Russia, frustrated with the Syrian air defense failure to deal with the Israeli air force, accuse Israel who fights Iran's continuing entrenchment in Syria." "Recall that Syrian air defense downed a Russian plane in Sep. 2018 and Iranian air defense downed a Ukrainian plane over Tehran last month. Advanced and effective Russian air defense systems are recklessly employed by Syrian and Iranian operators, endangering civil aviation. Contrarily, Israel tries to operate in hours with little civilian traffic. The weapons were launched from the west and the Syrian airliner came from the east...and by the way, it is difficult to plan to avoid a civilian flight which has not submitted a flight plan." The Cham Wings airliner was flying from Tehran to Damascus. Cham Wings was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2016 for transporting fighters and weapons to Syria. Its flights, which almost always land late at night, do not appear in any airline timetables.
2020-02-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive