Israeli Foreign Ministry Vows to Prevent Tragedies Like Russian Il-20 Downing

JERUSALEM (Sputnik) - Israel will do utmost to prevent such incidents like the downing of a Russian Il-20 plane near Syria from happening again, Yacov Livne, the director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Euro-Asia Department, said on Monday.

"It was a tragic event. We all regret this. Netanyahu talked about this the day after. Everyone knows that these were Syrian missiles that shot down the plane and because of which the Russian crew had been killed. We treat it as a tragedy. We created a mechanism for military interaction so that such tragedies did not occur. But unfortunately, no one is insured … In the future, it is important to do everything so that such tragedies do not recur. We will do everything we can for this," Livne told reporters.

The Il-20 was downed near Syria on September 17 by a missile launched by Syria's S-200 air defense system. The Russian Defense Ministry put the blame for the crash on the Israeli Air Force that was carrying out airstrikes in the Syrian province of Latakia at the time of the incident, arguing that the Israeli jets used the Il-20 as a shield against the Syrian air defense systems and that Israel notified Russia of its operation only a minute before the attack.

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Israel has refuted the accusations and insisted that Moscow was warned about the air operation in a timely manner.