BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:05 P.M.) – The Israeli Air Defense almost shot down a Russian fighter jet that was flying close to the occupied Golan Heights, the former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

“In the very beginning of the Russian operation in Syria, there was a case when a Russian pilot almost crossed our border in the Golan Heights,” Ya’alon told the Russian publication.

“We used a hotline to contact the Khemeymim Airbase in Syria and told them ‘your plane is about to enter our airspace. Be careful!'”- the former Israeli DM stated..

Ya’alon was one of the founders of the “hot line”, which from the autumn of 2015 allowed the armed forces of the two countries to avoid accidental clashes and other dangerous incidents while conducting operations in Syria.

One year before this incident with the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Israeli Air Defense downed a similar Syrian Su-24 jet that was flying close to the occupied Golan Heights.

A direct channel of communication channel between the Khmeymim Airbase and the command center of Kiriya in Tel Aviv was established almost simultaneously with the arrival of Russian forces in Syria.

Advertisements </s> Yaalon was one of the developers of the information-sharing mechanism, which has been preventing aerial clashes and other dangerous incidents between the two countries since 2015, when Moscow launched its aerial anti-terrorist campaigns in Syria.

"[The 'hotline'] saves lives, since it helps to avoid misunderstandings. In the beginning of the Russian operation in Syria, there was a case when a Russian pilot had almost crossed [Israel’s] border in the Golan Heights. If it had been a Syrian jet, we would have downed it. But we realized it was a Russian jet and used the 'hotline' to communicate with the Hmeymim [Russian airbase in Syria]. ‘Your jet is about to enter our airspace. Attention!’ The matter was solved immediately," Yaalon stated.

In September 2014, Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet which had infiltrated Israeli-controlled airspace over the Golan Heights.

The Israeli-Syrian relations are strained, particularly over the disputed region of Golan Heights. Israel occupied the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War with Syria and annexed the territory in 1981. The international community has not recognized the Israeli annexation. </s> JERUSALEM
• Israel said it shot down a Syrian warplane that crossed into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights yesterday, but Damascus said the jet was fired on as it took part in operations against rebels on Syrian territory.

The incident added new fuel to weeks of tensions over the Golan, a strategic plateau between the two old enemies and where Israel has been on high alert as Syrian government forces, supported by Russia, close in to regain rebel-held ground.

For the second time in as many days, Israeli sirens sounded on the Golan and witnesses saw the contrails of two missiles flying skyward.

The military said it fired Patriot interceptor missiles at a Syrian Sukhoi jet that crossed 2km into Israeli-controlled airspace, after first trying to warn it off.

"It was shot down and crashed, most likely in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights," Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said. "We do not have any information so far about the pilots. We do not know of any reports of parachutes being spotted and if any pilots have been retrieved."

Syrian state media said, however, that the warplane had been targeted by Israel and hit while conducting raids in Syrian airspace.

"The Israeli enemy confirms its support for the armed terrorist groups and targets one of our warplanes, which was striking groups on the edge of the Yarmouk Basin in Syrian airspace," the official news agency Sana quoted a military source as saying.

An Israeli military statement appeared to acknowledge that its mission was related to the civil war next door. "Since morning, there has been an increase in the internal fighting in Syria, including an increase in the activity of the Syrian Air Force," it said.

It added that Israel would "continue to operate against" any breach of a 1974 United Nations armistice deal that established buffer zones on the Golan.

Israel worries that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might try to defy the demilitarisation regime or allow his Iranian and Lebanese Hizbollah reinforcements to deploy near the Golan.

The raised Israeli-Syrian tensions have prompted intercession by Moscow, which sent its foreign minister and top general on Monday for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli officials said Mr Netanyahu rebuffed as insufficient a Russian offer to keep Iranian forces 100km from the Golan lines. </s> The Israeli Air Force shot down a Syrian fighter jet that traveled two kilometers into Israeli airspace on Tuesday afternoon, the military said.

“Two Patriot missiles were fired at a Syrian Sukhoi-model fighter jet,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

The IDF said the aircraft was monitored as it approached the border with the Golan Heights.

“It penetrated two kilometers into Israeli airspace and was shot down,” the army said.

According to Sky News Arabia, the plane crashed inside southwest Syria, in the Yarmouk Basin, an area still under the control of the Islamic State . It was not immediately clear if the pilots ejected before the fighter jet was shot down or what their condition was.

The official Syrian news outlet SANA confirmed that Israel had shot at one of its fighter jets, but said the plane was inside Syrian airspace at the time it was targeted.

According to SANA, Israel fired at “one of our war planes, which are leveling [terrorist] encampments in the Saida region on the outskirts of the Yarmouk Basin, in Syrian airspace.”

A military source quoted by SANA accused Israel of aiding “terrorists” in the country’s southwest, where the Syrian air force has been conducting extensive bombing raids throughout the day against a number of opposition groups in the area.

It was not immediately clear if the plane was a Sukhoi-22 or a Sukhoi-24, two different types of Russian-made fighter jets in use by the Syrian Air Force, the military said.

The IDF said it had noticed increased air force activity in southwestern Syria, near the border, since the morning.

“We have passed a number of messages, in a number of languages in order to ensure that no one violates Israeli air space,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters.

Update: Unconfirmed reports say that a pilot was killed. </s> The Russian Defence Ministry reported that the Russian Il-20 aircraft went off radar near Hmeymim airbase in Syria. The plane carried 14 servicemen; their fate is unknown.

Latakia came under fire earlier today in a missile attack military sources said come from the direction of the sea. The Russian Defense Ministry in its statement about the missing plane identified four Israeli F-16 airplanes as part of the attack on Latakia. Personnel at Hmeymim airbase have organized a search and rescue operation.

Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson refused to comment on the plane disappearance. After taking a break for a consultation with the command, the spokesperson said that IDF doesn't comment on reports from abroad.

Earlier on Monday, Syrian media reported a missile attack on the Syrian city of Latakia. A source told Sputnik that there were drones and missiles involved in the attack. Another source from Syrian military said that the missile attack on the coastal city was made from the sea. </s> A Russian military jet carrying 14 servicemen vanished from radar over the Mediterranean Sea late Monday as Syria came under attack by Israeli missiles, the defence ministry said.

“Connection has been lost with the crew of a Russian Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea 35 kilometres from the Syrian coast as it was returning to the Hmeimim airbase,” the Russian defence ministry said early Tuesday.

The fate of the military personnel is “unknown,” the ministry said in a statement which was carried by Russian news agencies. A search for the plane was underway.

A search-and-rescue source told the Interfax news agency that the Russian warplane could have sunk in the Mediterranean Sea as a result of an “unforeseen critical incident” in the air.

The ministry said that the jet had gone off the radar around 11pm Monday (local time) during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets over Syrian infrastructure in the province of Latakia, a stronghold of president Bashar al-Assad.

RIA Novosti news agency, citing a security source, said that Syrian anti-defence systems had countered a rocket attack.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

An Israeli military spokeswoman when asked about both the reported Israeli strike and the Russian plane said: “We don’t comment on foreign reports.”

A Pentagon spokesman said the United States was not involved and declined to provide further details.

“The missiles were not fired by the US military and we have nothing further at this time,” he said.

The Russian defence ministry also said that rockets had been launched from the French Navy’s frigate, The Auvergne, which was in the area at the time.

“The French army denies any involvement in this attack,” a French army spokesman said.

The jet vanished from radar just hours after Russia said there would be no assault against Syria’s Idlib as the presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a “demilitarised zone” in the rebel-held province.

After more than four hours of talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said their two countries would “prevent a humanitarian tragedy.”

Putin said the two leaders agreed to create a 15-20 kilometre-wide demilitarised zone along the line of contact between rebels and regime troops by October 15.

This would entail a “withdrawal of all radical fighters” from Idlib including the Al-Nusra Front and also the withdrawal of heavy weaponry including tanks, multiple launch rocket systems, Putin said.

Russia-backed forces of the Syrian regime have massed around Idlib province in recent weeks, sparking fears of an imminent air and ground attack to retake the last major opposition bastion.

Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict to buttress the Assad regime in 2015.

Russia has previously lost aircraft during its Syria campaign.

In November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border, triggering a severe crisis in ties with Moscow. </s> The Israel Air Force almost shot down a Russian jet heading toward Israeli airspace, former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon said in an interview with a Russian news outlet Saturday.



“At the very beginning of the Russian presence [in Syria], there was a case where one Russian pilot almost crossed our border over the Golan Heights. If it were a Syrian plane, we would have shot it down,” Ya’alon told RIA Novosti news agency. 





According to Ya’alon, Israel identified the plane approaching, and while it had identified it as Russian, it was prepared to take it down if it did not change course. Ya’alon said contact was made with Russia’s Khmeimim airbase informing them of the danger the plane was in, and, following the warnings, the jet changed its course.“The issue was resolved immediately,” he said.Ya’alon was referring to an incident that occurred shortly after Moscow intervened in the Syrian conflict in September 2015. Israel and Russia implemented a de-confliction mechanism shortly after in order to avoid accidental clashes in Syrian airspace, where both are active.Over the course of Syria’s eight-year civil war, Israel has publicly admitted to having struck over 100 Hezbollah convoys and other targets in Syria, while keeping mum on hundreds of other strikes attributed to it."When, at the time of my being defense minister, we realized that Russia had decided to send its aircraft to Syria and later deployed S-300 and S-400 air defense systems, I invited the Russian military attaché in Tel Aviv to my office and told him: We know that you are planning to deploy troops to Syria, we are not going to interfere in the Syrian conflict, but we have our own interests there, 'red lines.' Do not bother us, and we will not interfere with you,” Ya’alon said.He added that since the implementation of the hotline, which is manned by a Russian-speaking officer on the Israeli side, there haven't been any other misunderstandings between the two armies, who have been able to identify each other's aircraft.Nevertheless, Ya’alon stressed, “We do not need to coordinate or report to the Russian headquarters that we are going to carry out an air strike. We understand that they are able to identify our aircraft. They do not interfere with us and we do not interfere with them.”According to Ya’alon, while Israel understands there is “no direct relationship” between Moscow and Hezbollah, in many cases, Russian-made weapons supplied to Syria ultimately end up in the hands of the Shiite Lebanese terror group.As an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Moscow finds itself part of an alliance between Damascus and Tehran, the patron of Hezbollah. Russia, which views Iran as a key player in resolving the crisis in Syria, has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the role the Islamic Republic plays in the war-torn country.As the war in Syria enters a new phase due to Moscow’s intervention, Israel fears that Iran will help Hezbollah produce accurate precision-guided missiles and help Hezbollah and other Shiite militias to strengthen their foothold in the Golan Heights, two “red lines” set by Jerusalem."We see that Iran is supplying weapons to our enemies in the region, primarily Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now they want to be on our border,” Ya’alon said, stressing that “this is the official position of the Israeli government, we will not tolerate an Iranian military presence in Syria which will threaten us.” </s> A Russian military jet carrying 14 servicemen vanished from radar over the Mediterranean Sea late Monday as Syria came under attack by Israeli missiles, the defence ministry said.

"Connection has been lost with the crew of a Russian Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea 35 kilometres from the Syrian coast as it was returning to the Hmeimim airbase," the Russian defence ministry said early Tuesday.

The fate of the military personnel is "unknown," the ministry said in a statement which was carried by Russian news agencies. A search for the plane was underway.

A search-and-rescue source told the Interfax news agency that the Russian warplane could have sunk in the Mediterranean Sea as a result of an "unforeseen critical incident" in the air.

The ministry said that the jet had gone off the radar around 11pm Monday (2000 GMT) during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets over Syrian infrastructure in the province of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.

RIA Novosti news agency, citing a security source, said that Syrian anti-defence systems had countered a rocket attack.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

An Israeli military spokeswoman when asked about both the reported Israeli strike and the Russian plane said: "We don't comment on foreign reports."

A Pentagon spokesman said the United States was not involved and declined to provide further details.

"The missiles were not fired by the US military and we have nothing further at this time," he said.

The Russian defence ministry also said that rockets had been launched from the French Navy's frigate, The Auvergne, which was in the area at the time.

"The French army denies any involvement in this attack," a French army spokesman said.

The jet vanished from radar just hours after Russia said there would be no assault against Syria's Idlib as the presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a "demilitarised zone" in the rebel-held province.

After more than four hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said their two countries would "prevent a humanitarian tragedy."

Putin said the two leaders agreed to create a 15-20 kilometre-wide demilitarised zone along the line of contact between rebels and regime troops by October 15.

This would entail a "withdrawal of all radical fighters" from Idlib including the Al-Nusra Front and also the withdrawal of heavy weaponry including tanks, multiple launch rocket systems, Putin said.

Russia-backed forces of the Syrian regime have massed around Idlib province in recent weeks, sparking fears of an imminent air and ground attack to retake the last major opposition bastion.

Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict to buttress the Assad regime in 2015.

Russia has previously lost aircraft during its Syria campaign.

In November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border, triggering a severe crisis in ties with Moscow. </s> , Moscow, Russian Federation, Sep 18 – A Russian military jet carrying 14 servicemen vanished from radar over the Mediterranean Sea late Monday as Syria came under attack by Israeli missiles, the defence ministry said.

“Connection has been lost with the crew of a Russian Il-20 plane over the Mediterranean Sea 35 kilometres from the Syrian coast as it was returning to the Hmeimim airbase,” the Russian defence ministry said early Tuesday.

The fate of the military personnel is “unknown,” the ministry said in a statement which was carried by Russian news agencies. A search for the plane was underway.

A search-and-rescue source told the Interfax news agency that the Russian warplane could have sunk in the Mediterranean Sea as a result of an “unforeseen critical incident” in the air.

The ministry said that the jet had gone off the radar around 11pm Monday (2000 GMT) during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets over Syrian infrastructure in the province of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.

RIA Novosti news agency, citing a security source, said that Syrian anti-defence systems had countered a rocket attack.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.

An Israeli military spokeswoman when asked about both the reported Israeli strike and the Russian plane said: “We don’t comment on foreign reports.”

A Pentagon spokesman said the United States was not involved and declined to provide further details.

“The missiles were not fired by the US military and we have nothing further at this time,” he said.

The Russian defence ministry also said that rockets had been launched from the French Navy’s frigate, The Auvergne, which was in the area at the time.

“The French army denies any involvement in this attack,” a French army spokesman said.

The jet vanished from radar just hours after Russia said there would be no assault against Syria’s Idlib as the presidents of Russia and Turkey agreed to create a “demilitarised zone” in the rebel-held province.

After more than four hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said their two countries would “prevent a humanitarian tragedy.”

Putin said the two leaders agreed to create a 15-20 kilometre-wide demilitarised zone along the line of contact between rebels and regime troops by October 15.

This would entail a “withdrawal of all radical fighters” from Idlib including the Al-Nusra Front and also the withdrawal of heavy weaponry including tanks, multiple launch rocket systems, Putin said.

Russia-backed forces of the Syrian regime have massed around Idlib province in recent weeks, sparking fears of an imminent air and ground attack to retake the last major opposition bastion.

Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict to buttress the Assad regime in 2015.

Russia has previously lost aircraft during its Syria campaign.

In November 2015, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border, triggering a severe crisis in ties with Moscow.
The Israeli Air Force used a "hotline" to issue an urgent warning to Khemeymim Airbase in Syria when a Russian fighter jet strayed close to Israeli airspace near the Golan Heights. Last year a Syrian warplane was shot down in a similar incident.