Netanyahu: Israel Ready to Assist Russia in Il-20 Incident Probe

15:45 GMT, 18 September 2018

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reassured Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Tuesday that Tel Aviv is ready to provide Moscow with all necessary information to facilitate the probe into the downing of a Russian military plane in Syria, Netanyahu's press service said.

Sputnik

"The Prime Minister stressed that Israel is ready to provide Russia with all information necessary to investigate the incident, and offered to send the [Israeli] Air Force Commander to Moscow," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

According to the release, the Prime Minister also expressed regret over the death of Russian servicemen and said that Syria is responsible for the crash of the aircraft

In addition, Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel's determination to counter the Iranian military presence in Syria.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed that Israel is determined to resist the Iranian military presence in Syria as well as to counter the attempts by Iran, which calls for the destruction of Israel, to transfer deadly weaponry directed against Israel to Hezbollah," the statement read.

Israel Unlikely to Fly Freely Over Syria After Il-20 Incident - Ex-Official

18 September 2018, 13:28 GMT

The Russian Hmeimim airbase had lost contact with the crew of the Russian Il-20 military aircraft late on Monday during the attack of four Israeli F-16 aircraft on Syrian targets in the province of Latakia. The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier on Tuesday that the Israeli military deliberately created a dangerous situation by using the Russian aircraft as a shield against Syrian air defense systems.