Paper: Israel Uses Russian Plane as Shield to Insult Putin, Humiliate Moscow

Editor-in-Chief of the Arabic-language Ray al-Youm daily Abdul Bari Atwan said in an article that Russian mum on the Israeli air raids on Syria, which stands at 207 cases in the last recent eighteen months announced by official sources, made Israeli military to be dare enough to use the Russian cargo plane as a shield to target Syrian army centers, adding that Tel Aviv's move was only an insult to President Putin who has hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu three time since the beginning of the current year.

Atwan further said that the Israeli leaders embarked on the humiliating move against Russian based on three reasons, adding that Tel Aviv's attack on Syrian army position in Lattakia that is near Russia-run Humeimim airbase can be supposed as a threat for Russian and its most important base in Syria.

He went on to say that Israel informed Russian about their raid only a minute before the raid on Syria's soil that also can be supposed as a great humiliation and an intentional biased attack on the Russian partner. 

Atwan also added that Israeli attack on Syria's Lattakia was aimed at disturbing the Russians' pleasure over accessing to a strategic agreement with Turkey to avoid or delay military solution for Idlib.

He concluded that Russian military is capable choosing two choices, countering directly Israeli raids on Syria or equipping Syrian Air Defense Units with S300 or S400 Air Defense Systems.

The Russian defense ministry said on Tuesday that a Russian Ilyushin Il-20 plane that was flying back to the airbase at Syria’s Humeimim crashed over the Mediterranean Sea late on Monday.

According to the defense ministry, four Israeli F-16 fighter jet were delivering airstrikes on Syrian targets in Lattakia province at the moment. The ministry said the Russian Il-20 was shot down by Syria’s air defense over the Mediterranean Sea because Israel’s F-16 fighter jets used it as a cover, since the Israeli command centers and the F-16s’ pilots could not but see the Russian plane, which was approaching the runway from an altitude of five kilometers. Fifteen Russian crew members died.

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