Russian spy plane with 14 on board vanishes over Syria

Russian spy plane with 14 on board vanishes over Syria
Russia’s defense ministry said early on Tuesday (Sep. 18) that one if its military aircraft with 14 people on board disappeared from radar screens over Syria while Israeli and French forces were mounting aerial attacks on targets in Syria, Reuters reported.

A US official said Washington believed the aircraft, which is an Il-20 turbo-prop plane used for electronic reconnaissance, was inadvertently shot down by anti-aircraft artillery operated by Moscow’s ally, the Assad regime.

A French military spokesman told AFP news agency: "The French army denies any involvement in this attack."

Meanwhile, the Israeli military refused to comment on reports its planes targeted facilities in the Latakia area on Monday, saying: "We don’t comment on foreign reports."

Around the time the plane disappeared, the Syrian coastal city of Latakia — near a Russian airbase to which the Il-20 was returning — came under attack from “enemy missiles”, and missile defense batteries responded, Assad media reported.

The defense ministry in Moscow said the aircraft was returning to the Russian-run Hmeimim airbase in Latakia province when, at about 11:00 p.m. Moscow time (20:00 GMT) on Monday, it disappeared from radar screens.

The plane was over the Mediterranean Sea about 35 km (20 miles) from the Syrian coastline, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted the ministry as saying in a statement.

“The trace of the Il-20 on flight control radars disappeared during an attack by four Israeli F-16 jets on Assad regime’s facilities in Latakia province,” the statement was quoted as saying.

“At the same time Russian air control radar systems detected rocket launches from the French frigate Auvergne which was located in that region.”

The fate of the 14 people on board the missing plane is unknown, and a rescue operation has been organized out of the Hmeimim base, the ministry said.

In March this year, a Russian military transport plane crashed when coming in to land at the Hmeimim base, killing all 39 people on board.

In December 2016, a Russian plane carrying dozens of Red Army choir singers, dancers and musicians crashed into the Black Sea on the way to Syria, killing all 92 people on board.

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