Kremlin risks fresh diplomatic crisis as Russian jets TWICE fire at Israeli aircraft

Friday, April 22, 2016
By Paul Martin

RUSSIAN forces have fired at Israeli military aircraft at least twice during operations in Syria in recent months, risking a fresh diplomatic crisis in the region.

By TOM BATCHELOR
Express.co.uk
Fri, Apr 22, 2016

According to newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Russia targeted Israeli forces on two occasions but gave no detail on dates or locations for the incidents, nor any indication Israeli planes were hit.

The leaders of both countries apparently discussed the incident, which comes just a few days after Russian jets flew within feet of a US warship in international waters.

The Kremlin later denied Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed the incidents, saying: “In this case, Israeli press reports are far from reality”.

Russia mounted its military intervention in Syria in September to shore up President Bashar al-Assad’s fragile dictatorship.

Separately, an Israeli TV channel said a Russian warplane approached an Israeli warplane off the Mediterranean coast of Syria last week but that there was no contact between them.

Israel, which has repeatedly bombed Syria to foil suspected arms handovers to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, was quick to set up an operational hotline with Moscow designed to avoid accidentally trading fire with Russian forces.

Visiting Moscow on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu told the Russian president: “I came here with one main goal – to strengthen the security coordination between us so as to avoid mishaps, misunderstandings and unnecessary confrontations.”

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