(Bloomberg) — Russia warned angrily it may respond to “hostile” actions by Israel after one of its military reconnaissance planes was downed mistakenly by Syrian forces fighting off an attack by Israeli warplanes. Since sending forces to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015, Russia has been a dominant player in the conflict, at times struggling to manage the competing interests of the other powers there. Russia has kept close ties with Israel, despite its regular attacks on the Moscow-backed regime in Syria. It said Syrian forces mistakenly downed the Il-20 reconnaissance plane with an S-200 air-defence missile as they attempted to fight off an attack by Israeli planes. The two agreed to deploy forces to patrol a new demilitarized zone separating Syrian forces from opposition groups dominated by jihadists.

Source: National Post September 18, 2018 11:48 UTC