Bashar al-Assad blames Israel over downing of Russian plane

President of Syria Bashar al-Assad has blamed Israel for the downing of a Russian plane, which was accidentally hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire during an Israeli missile strike.
“This unfortunate incident was the result of Israeli arrogance and depravity,” the Syrian leader said, offering his condolences in a letter to his Russian counterpart for the death of 15 Russian crew members killed in the incident over Syria on Monday. “We are determined that such tragic events will sway neither you nor us from continuing the fight against terrorism,” he continued in the letter published by the official Sana agency.
The Russian plane was shot down by Syria’s Russian made S-220 air defense system and all aboard the plane were killed.
The Russian military has accused Israeli pilots of using the Russian plane as cover, “exposing it to fire from Syrian air defenses” while they mounted an air raid. Israel said it had targeted a Syrian military facility where weapons manufacturing systems were “about to be transferred on behalf of Iran” to Lebanese Shia group Hizbollah. Vladmir Putin, the Russian president, had struck a conciliatory tone a day earlier describing the incident as the result of “tragic accidental circumstances,” but warning Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, against carrying out such operations in the future.