Russia summons Israeli envoy over plane downing in Syria: Foreign Ministry

Following the downing of a Russian plane over Syria, Russia on Tuesday summoned the Israeli ambassador to Moscow.

"The Israeli ambassador has been summoned to the foreign ministry over the situation," a representative of the ministry's press service told AFP.

This has come as the Russian defence ministry blamed the Israeli air force for the incident.

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Russia on Tuesday accused Israel of indirectly causing a Russian military plane to be shot down near Syria's Mediterranean coast, and threatened to retaliate against Israel for what it described as a hostile act.

The defence ministry said the Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, with 15 Russian service personnel on board, was brought down by anti-aircraft batteries of Moscow's ally, Syria, in a friendly fire incident.

The ministry said it held Israel responsible because, at the time of the incident, Israeli fighter jets were mounting air attacks on Syria targets and had only given Moscow one minute's warning, putting the Russian aircraft in danger of being caught in the cross-fire.

Moscow said its plane disappeared from radar screens as it came into land at the Hmeymim air base in western Syria late on Monday, at the same time as Israeli jets and French naval vessels were mounting air strikes on targets in the same area of Syria.

According to the ministry, the Israeli F-16 jets carrying out the air strikes used the Russian plane as a cover to allow them to approach their targets on the ground without being hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

(With inputs from agencies)