BEIRUT, Lebanon — A passenger plane with 172 people aboard made an emergency landing at a Russian military base in Syria on Thursday after drawing fire from Syrian air defenses in the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in the area, Russian state news agencies reported on Friday. A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, blamed Israel for the near miss, accusing the Israeli military of habitually using civilian aircraft to stop Syrian air defenses from retaliating against its strikes, Interfax reported. “The Israeli general staff carries out such operations using civilian, passenger airplanes as cover or to block answering fire from the Syrian antiaircraft forces,” Mr. Konashenkov said in a statement released to Russian news outlets. The tactic, he said, “is a characteristic of the Israeli air force.”The passenger plane, an Airbus A320, was en route to Damascus from Tehran early Thursday when it came under fire, Interfax reported Mr. Konashenkov as saying. Mr. Konashenkov said the attack was meant for Israeli fighter jets that had struck the outskirts of Damascus with eight surface-to-air missiles around the same time, just after 2 a.m.

Source: International New York Times February 07, 2020 15:11 UTC