Russian Ambassador to Syria Alexander Yefimov on Monday condemned Israel for its alleged strikes in Syria, the latest of which was reported to have killed more than 20 Syrian and Iranian military officials.
“The Israeli raids are, of course, provocative and very dangerous for the situation in Syria,” Yefimov said in an interview with Sputnik Arabic, according to an English translation by Syrian news site Al-Masdar. “The [Israeli] missiles are falling not only in the areas bordering Israel, but also reaching areas deep in Syria, in the eastern part of the country and even in residential areas in Damascus. It is regrettable that civilians become victims of these raids.”
Echoing an accusation voiced by Moscow’s Defense Ministry, Yefimov said: “A flagrant incident occurred during the Israeli attack on the night of February 6, when a plane carrying about 172 passengers came under Syrian air defense fire during the response. It is good that they were able to redirect it to the Hmeimim Airbase at the appropriate time.
“In addition to the clear violation of Syrian sovereignty and the real threat to the lives of innocent people, all of this increases the possibility of conflict over Syria and runs counter to efforts to achieve stability and a political settlement,” he added.
Israel has not specifically admitted to carrying out the strikes on several targets near Damascus in the predawn hours of Thursday morning, which killed 23 fighters.
But Syrian state media blamed Israel, and over the weekend Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett seemingly confirmed the strike was Israeli, saying the Jewish state had carried out an attack in the past week and noting: “Foreign media reported this week that 23 Syrians and Iranians were killed there. Those are large numbers and we will do more and more.”
Israel and Russia have coordinated their military efforts in Syria in recent years, in order to avoid friction and accidental conflict. Israeli officials do not generally discuss the full extent of that coordination, but they stress that the Israeli military does not seek Russian permission before carrying out operations.
Moscow accused the Israel Defense Forces of using the civilian plane as a shield during its attack Thursday.
The Russian military said a civilian Airbus-320 with 172 passengers on board was attempting to land at Damascus Airport during the alleged Israeli strikes, but was instead forced to land at the Russian airbase in Hmeimim.
Konashenkov denounced what he said was becoming a “typical practice” of Israel’s of using civilian aircraft as a “shield” against Syrian air defenses, apparently referring to a case in 2018, when the Syrian military shot down a Russian spy plane while responding to an Israeli strike over Syrian airspace.
Russia later declared that Israel was responsible for that incident, in which 15 crew members were killed, saying the Israeli Air Force jets used the Russian plane as cover. In that case, the Israeli military flatly denied the allegation that IDF jets had used the spy plane as shield, and defense analysts also cast doubts on the feasibility of such a maneuver. Nevertheless, the incident led to a major diplomatic spat between Moscow and Jerusalem.
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