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A Russian
soldier stands beside a Russian S-300 long range surface-to-air missile
system in Kubinka, Russia, August 21, 2018. (Photo by Bloomberg)
A senior Israeli official
has admitted that Russia's delivery of S-300 anti-aircraft missile
defense systems to Damascus will pose a serious "challenge" to the
regime.
Tensions have been rising between Moscow and Tel Aviv following the downing of a Russian warplane in Syria this month.
The official, whose name was not released in the Sunday report by the
Times of Israel, said Tel Aviv was working on "different ways" to deal
with Russia's recent move.
“The S-300 is a complex challenge for ... Israel. We are dealing with
the [decision] in different ways, not necessarily by preventing
shipment [of the anti-aircraft systems],” he said.
The official said Israel enjoyed the US support and reserved the right to protect itself, without elaboration.
"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin made a move, but it's a big playing field and he understands that," the official said.
Moscow vowed to bolster Syria’s air defense capabilities by sending
modern S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to the Arab country within
two weeks after the recent accidental downing of a Russian Il-20
reconnaissance aircraft.
Netanyahu told Putin in a phone conversation that Israel "will continue to do what it has to do to defend itself."
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday Russia has already
started delivering the S-300 system to Syria as part of efforts to
ensure the safety of Russian forces in the Arab country.
The Russian plane with 15 servicemen on board disappeared from radars
on September 17 as four Israeli F-16 warplanes were attacking state
institutions in Syria’s Latakia Province, which is home to Russia-run
Hmeimim airbase.
Russia’s Defense Ministry held Israel responsible for the incident,
saying the regime’s warplanes “created a dangerous situation” that led
to the downing of the Russian aircraft by Syria’s S-200 missile defense
system.
Israel frequently attacks military targets in Syria in what is
considered as an attempt to prop up militant groups that have been
suffering heavy defeats against Syrian government forces.
A minute-by-minute account of the Il-20 downing shows Israel's
culpability and either its military bosses' lack of appreciation of
relations with Moscow, or their control of commanding officers, the
Russian defense ministry said.
"We believe that the blame for the Russian Il-20 aircraft tragedy lies entirely with the Israeli Air Force,"
said spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, before revealing a
detailed account of events leading to the downing of the Russian Il-20
military aircraft on September 17. The plane was shot down by the Syrian
air defense units as Israeli's F-16s effectively used it as a cover
during the attack on its neighbor.
The report featured previously
undisclosed radar data and details of communications between Russian and
Israeli militaries, and concluded that "the military leadership of
Israel either has no appreciation for the level of relations with
Russia, or has no control over individual commands or commanding
officers who understood that their actions would lead to tragedy."
On the evening of
September 17, the Russian Ilyushin IL-20 with 15 crew on board was
circling over the Idlib de-escalation zone on a special reconnaissance
mission, when four Israeli F-16 fighter jets left their country's
airspace and flew over the neutral Mediterranean waters towards the
Syrian coast. The Israeli Air Force gave the Russian side less than a
minute's warning before dropping the precision-guided glide bombs,
leaving virtually no time for any safety maneuvers, Konashenkov said,
calling such actions "a clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements."
Moreover,
the Israeli military failed to provide the location of their jets or
properly specify their targets, claiming they were going to attack
several 'industrial facilities' in northern Syria, close to the Il-20’s
area of operation. The misinformation prompted the Russian Command to
order the recon plane back to the Khmeimim air base. The Israeli jets,
however, instead almost immediately attacked the western Syrian Latakia
province.
"The misleading information provided by the
Israeli officer about the area of strikes did not allow the Russian
Il-20 airplane to move timely to a safe area."
Once
the Syrian air defenses responded to the initial strike, the Israeli
jets switched on radar jamming and pulled back, apparently preparing for
another attack. One of the jets then approached the Syrian coast –and
the Russian plane which at that time was preparing to land– again.
The Israeli pilot must have been well aware of the fact that the Il-20
has a much larger radar cross-section than his F-16, and would become a "preferred target"
for the Syrian air defense units, who use different friend-or-foe
systems with the Russians, Konashenkov said. Thus, for the Syrians, the
reconnaissance plane could appear as a group of Israeli jets.
"The Israeli jets saw the Russian Ilyushin Il-20 and used it as a shield against the anti-aircraft missiles, while they carried on maneuvering in the region," Konashenkov said during the news briefing.
"The actions of the Israeli fighter pilots,
which led to the loss of life of 15 Russian servicemen, either lacked
professionalism or were an act of criminal negligence, to say the least."
Finally,
the Israeli jets carried out their maneuvers in the immediate vicinity
of the Khmeimim air base, which is used both by military and civilian
aircraft, including passenger planes, the ministry's spokesman
emphasized, saying that the reckless actions of the Israeli pilots could
also have posed a threat to any passenger or transport aircraft that
may have happened to be there at that time.
Israel 'crossed the line of civilized relations' with 'ungrateful response'
Israel's
negligent behavior amounts to a flagrant violation of the very spirit
of cooperation between the countries, Konashenkov stated, noting that
Russia has never broken its commitment to the deconfliction agreement –
it has always informed Israel about their missions in advance and has
never used its air defense capabilities against the Israelis, even
though their airstrikes sometimes put the Russian servicemen in danger.
Russia has sent as many as 310 notifications to the Israeli Air Force
Command, while the latter appeared to be reluctant to show the same
level of commitment, notifying only 25 times even though its jets
carried out more than 200 strikes against targets located in Syria over
the past 18 months alone.
"This is an extremely ungrateful
response to all that has been done by the Russian Federation for Israel
and the Israeli people recently," Konashenkov said.
The Russian military supported the Syrian military operation in the Golan Heights to "ensure there were no shelling attacks on Israeli territory" anymore, thus allowing the UN peacekeeping mission to resume patrolling of the contested border between Syria and Israel after "a six-year hiatus."
Russia also managed to secure the withdrawal of all Iran-backed groups from the Golan Heights to a "safe distance for Israel," more than 140 kilometers to the east of Syria, the spokesperson said, adding that this was done at the request of Tel Aviv. "A
total of 1,050 personnel, 24 MLRSs and tactical missiles, as well as
145 pieces of other munitions and military equipment were withdrawn from
the area," Konashenkov told journalists.
The Russian Defense
Ministry had provided assistance in preserving Jewish sacred places and
graves in the city of Aleppo. Putting Russian Special Forces soldiers'
lives in danger, it also organized the search for the remains of some
Israeli servicemen that died during the past conflicts in an area where
the Syrian forces were combating Islamic State (IS, former ISIS)
terrorists at that time.
"In view of the above, the hostile actions
committed by the Israeli Air Force against the Russian Ilyushin Il-20
aircraft cross the line of civilized relations."
While
Israel said that it mourned the deaths of Russian troops, the IDF
statement following the incident shifted all the blame for the incident
solely on Damascus, and its Iranian and Lebanese allies.
Syrian president
Bashar Al-Assad has sent a letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin,
expressing his condolences over the recent Russian Il-20 plane crash in
Syria, local media reported.
Syrian
president Bashar Al-Assad wrote in his letter to Vladimir Putin that
the Russian Il-20 plane crash near Hmeymim air base was a result
of Israeli arrogance, SANA news agency reported.
Syrian
president expressed his condolences over the tragedy and said that he
hoped that the plane crash would not impede Russian and Syrian joint
fight against terrorism.
The Russian Hmeymim airbase in Syria had lost contact with the Il-20
military aircraft late on Monday during the attack of Israeli F-16
aircraft on Syrian targets in the province of Latakia. The Russian
Defense Ministry said later that the Israeli military deliberately
created a dangerous situation by using the Russian aircraft as a shield
against Syrian air defense systems.
Earlier, Israeli military delegation led by Air Force Commander Maj.
Gen. Amikam Norkin will travel to Moscow on September 20
with information about the crash of the aircraft.
After the tragic downing of a Russian military plane on Monday night off
the Syrian coast, the blame game is intensifying between the main
parties, directly or indirectly involved in the incident.
There
is one thing that Israel fears more than anything else in Syria. The
loss of its ability to fly its F-16’s with impunity and hit whatever
targets it wants claiming defensive measures to stop Iran, their
existential enemy.
Israel
finally admitted to carrying out over 200 such missions over the past
18 months, only a few of which ever made any kind of international
media, recently.
And
with the sneak attack on Latakia which involved using a Russian IL-20
ELINT war plane as radar cover Israel has now not only raised the stakes
to an unacceptable level, it has also ensured that this may be the last
such aerial assault it will ever be able to carry out.
The
setup is pretty clear. Israel and France coordinated an attack on
multiple targets within Syria without US involvement but with absolute
US knowledge of the operation to provoke Russia into going off
half-cocked by attacking the inconsequential French frigate which
assisted Israel’s air attack.
That
would constitute an attack on a NATO member state and require a
response from NATO, thereby getting the exact escalation needed to
continue the war in Syria indefinitely and touch off WWIII.
This
neatly bypasses any objections to a wider conflict by President Trump
who would have to respond militarily to a Russian attack on a NATO ally.
It also would reassert NATO’s necessity in the public dialogue, further
marginalizing Trump’s attacks on it and any perceived drive of his for
peace.
That this took place within the 60 days window of the mid-term elections should also not be discounted.
This
attack took place just hours after Presidents Erdogan and Putin
negotiated a ‘peaceful’ settlement for Idlib province by declaring a
De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) 15-20 kilometers wide which everyone,
including Erdogan’s pets Jabhat al-Nusra would have to abide by.
Peace was breaking out in Syria and Israel and the war-hawks in D.C. weren’t standing for that.
By conducting this attack like this Israel and the NATO crowd figured it would be a win/win for them.
If Russia strikes back at France, then NATO invokes Article 5 and they get their wider war.
If
Russia doesn’t strike back Putin loses face within Russia, his
popularity drops 5 points and John Bolton begins salivating at the
prospect of regime change in Russia. Yes, they are that insane.
It
was a neat piece of geopolitical maneuvering, almost judo-like. Russia
and Syria looked to be on the verge of victory, extending themselves in a
major conflict that would result in months of bad press. We were
expecting a possible false-flag chemical weapons attack, cries of
humanitarian crisis and all the rest of the tired virtue-signaling we
can expect by US ‘diplomatic’ officials that has been all too common
even under Trump.
What
we got was the opposite, a carefully-crafted assault on Russian
military forces wherein Russia’s vaunted air-defense systems would be
blamed for its own people’s deaths and a mistaken counter-attack that
justifies the “Putin is a Vile War-Monger” narrative to justify a US
invasion of Syria which has been held in amber since 2013 and Putin’s
skillful defusing that situation via diplomatic means.
For
once, this almost looked like a well-thought out plan. Not the usual
ham-fisted crudities we’ve been treated to over the last few years. But,
here’s the rub.
It didn’t work.
By
naming names and immediately not responding militarily during the ‘fog
of war’ Russia and Putin again prove to be more skilled at this than
their adversaries.
Because
none of what I just outlined will come to pass. And France, Israel and
the US will be the ones to lose face here. And with Israel betraying
Putin’s forbearance after April’s air strikes on Damascus, he will have
no choice but to upgrade Syria’s air defense systems from S-200’s to
S-300’s and possibly S-400’s.
This
is Israel’s worst nightmare. A situation where any aerial assault on
targets within Syria would be suicide missions, puncturing the myth of
the Israeli air force’s superiority and shifting the delicate balance of
power in Syria decidedly against them.
This
is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked Putin so hard over the
last two years. But, this incident wipes that slate clean. This was a
cynical betrayal of Putin’s trust and patience. And Israel will now pay
the price for their miscalculation.
Giving
Syria S-300’s does not avenge the fifteen dead Russian soldiers. Putin
will have to respond to that in a more concrete way to appease the
hardliners in his government and at home. His patience and seeming
passivity are being pushed to their limit politically. This is, after
all, a side benefit to all of this for the neoconservative and globalist
hawks in D.C., Europe and Tel Aviv.
But,
the real loss here for Israel will be Russia instituting a no-fly zone
over western Syria. Any less response from Putin will be seized upon by
and the situation will escalate from here. So, Putin has to deploy
S-300’s here. And once that happens, the real solution to Syria begins
in earnest.
Because
at that point it will be the US’s move to flat-out invade without
provocation, now that a solution is in place in Syria between Russia and
a NATO member, Turkey.
The
only good news in all of this is that US forces were not involved. This
still tells me that Trump and Mattis are still in charge of their chain
of command and that other forces are conspiring to drag them into a
conflict no one in their right minds wants.
ST.PETERSBURG
(Sputnik) - Israel is unlikely to freely use Syrian airspace in the wake
of the crash of a Russian Il-20 military aircraft over the
Mediterranean Sea, Yakov Kedmi, a former high-ranking Israeli
intelligence official, told Sputnik.
"There
was an agreement between Israel and Russia that the actions of Israel
in Syria's airspace would not endanger lives of Russian troops. Israel
breached this commitment… What happens next will depend on the position
of Israel. Most likely, Israel will no longer be able to enjoy the same
freedom in the sky of Syria as it did before the incident," Kedmi said.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) earlier in the day that Israel would
share all information on the incident with Moscow. The IDF expressed
regret over the deaths of the Russian troops and put the blame
on Damascus and Tehran.
"Israel's attack in itself, regardless of the
consequences, was an irresponsible step, because there is not a single
facility on the territory of Syria that might have been used by Iran and
whose destruction would have justified an attack on it, which could
endanger the Russian troops," Kedmi said.
According
to the IDF, the Israeli jets were targeting a facility in Syria which
contained "systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons" that
could be sent "on behalf of Iran" to Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.
Israel, as well as many other states, considers the movement a terrorist
organization.
The Russian Hmeimim airbase had lost contact with the crew of the Russian Il-20 military aircraft
late on Monday during the attack of four Israeli F-16 aircraft
on Syrian targets in the province of Latakia. The Russian Defense
Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the Israeli military deliberately
created a dangerous situation by using the Russian aircraft as a shield
against Syrian air defense systems. As a result, the Il-20 jet was
downed by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system.
Will Russia-Israel ties suffer after downing of Il-20 military plane off Syrian coast?
Moscow and Tel Aviv had long enjoyed fairly good ties despite
the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, but they are now at risk as
Russia blames Israel for the downing its warplane off Syrian coast and
the crew's death.
Although the plane was
technically shot down by a Syrian missile, Russia made it clear who it
blames in the tragedy, saying that Israeli pilots used the Russian Il-20
as a cover.
The Middle East historically remained a place of bitter
rivalries. Tension grew increasingly high after the Arab Spring brought
more havoc to an already complex region, riddled with colliding
interests and clashing ambitious of various actors, large and small.
Nevertheless, Russia and Israel had always managed to keep good
relations.
This year alone President Vladimir Putin met
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu three times, and every time
the media didn’t get much details from closed-door discussions. Through
delicate behind-the-scenes diplomacy Moscow maintained a close, working
relations with Israel. The fact that it’s one of US closest allies was
never an issue for Moscow. Russia itself kept developing ties with
Turkey and Iran, Israel’s arch-nemesis, while managing to address
Israel’s concerns too.
For Russia, Israel is not only an important, geopolitical partner with alleged
nuclear capabilities, situated in the heart of the world’s most
turbulent region. It’s also home of about 1.3 million expats from
post-Soviet countries. This large diaspora plays a significant role for
Russia when it tailors its approach to Tel Aviv.
Even the war in Syria, where Israel - in hopes of curbing Iranian influence - supported and armed controversial anti-government militants, didn’t result in a serious crisis in relations with Russia.
Over the course of the conflict, the IDF had conducted numerous airstrikes against targets in Syria and even launched missiles
at Syrian jets. Each attack was strongly condemned by both Syria and
Russia who had been pointing out that any military incursion into the
country without the government’s and UN’s approval is illegal.
But
the raid on Latakia and the collateral damage in a form of a downed
Russian military plane can inflict grave damage on the relations between
the states. Israel stands firmly against the strengthening of the
Turkish or Iranian grip in the region, so its recent actions may be an
attempt to remind everyone that the Syrian crisis has other stakeholders
involved. Especially, since just the day before the tragic incident
with the Russia plane Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep
Tayyp Erdogan reached a settlement on the situation around Idlib, the last militant stronghold beyond the control of the Syrian government.
‘You are to blame for downing of Il-20 and death of its crew,’ Russia tells Israel
Russia has formally complained to Israel about its air raid on
Monday, which led to the downing of a Russian Il-20 plane off the Syrian
coast. Moscow has laid the blame for the crew’s deaths “squarely on the
Israeli side.”
Russian
Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor
Lieberman on the phone about the downing of the Russian Il-20 plane on
Monday night. He relayed Moscow’s position on the incident, blaming the
Israeli military for setting up the Russian plane to be shot down by
Syrian air defenses, which were responding to an Israeli air raid, an
official statement from the Russian military said.
Shoigu
reiterated that Israel failed to notify Russia of the impending attack
in a way that would have given its military an opportunity to move the
Il-20 out of harm’s way. Instead, the warning came just one minute
before the Israeli F-16 fighter jets launched their attack.
“The blame for the downing of the Russian plane and the deaths of its crew members lies squarely on the Israeli side,” the Minister Shoigu said. “The
actions of the Israeli military were not in keeping with the spirit of
the Russian-Israeli partnership, so we reserve the right to respond.”
Earlier,
the Russian Defense Ministry said the Israeli jets had used the bigger
Russian plane as cover during their attack on targets in Syria. The
ministry said the Israelis must have known that they were putting the
Russian plane at risk, but neither changed their battle plan nor gave a
warning in time for the Il-20 to be moved to a safe area.
The Israeli government has yet to publicly comment on the incident.
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