This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A Russian military aircraft with 15 people onboard has been accidentally shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft defences that were targeting Israeli jets, the Russian defence ministry has said.

The ministry blamed Israel’s “irresponsible actions” for the incident, saying Israeli fighter jet pilots intentionally used the aircraft as cover against Syrian missiles in a “deliberate provocation”, although Russian president Vladimir Putin later said it was caused by a “chain of tragic chance events”. Israel said its aircraft were not in the area at the time.

An eight-vessel search for the Russian Il-20, a surveillance plane, was initiated after contact was lost about 20 miles (35km) off the coast of Syria at about 11pm local time (8pm GMT) on Monday. Russia said it had located the wreckage and some remains of the personnel onboard. No survivors had been found.

A Russian military spokesman said Israeli F-16 pilots were using the Russian plane as a shield while carrying out missile strikes against targets in Syria’s Latakia province and put it in the line of fire from Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.

“The Il-20, which has a much bigger reflective surface than the F-16, was struck down by an S-200 rocket,” the spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said.

Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told a senior Israeli official that Israel bore “full responsibility” for the incident and the death of the Russian crew, a military spokesman said later on Tuesday. Israel’s ambassador in Moscow was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry over the incident.

However, Putin appeared to attempt to defuse the situation later on Tuesday by saying the downing was likely part of “a chain of tragic chance events, because an Israeli aircraft did not shoot down our aircraft”.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, telephoned Putin to reiterate that the blame lay with Syria and also to offer “all necessary information” to investigate the incident, his office said.

Israel’s armed forces released a statement expressing sorrow for the deaths of the crew and said they held Syria fully responsible. They said that overnight their jets had hit a facility used to manufacture weapons that they believed were due to be transferred to Hezbollah.

“Extensive and inaccurate Syrian anti-aircraft … fire caused the Russian plane to be hit and downed,” the statement said, adding that when the anti-aircraft missiles were fired, Israeli jets had already returned to their airspace.

Damascus had said its anti-aircraft batteries had fired at incoming missiles heading towards several locations in Latakia.

For several years, Israel and Russia have maintained a special hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria. Israeli military officials have previously praised its effectiveness.

As well as the hotline, Netanyahu, has made trips to Moscow to seek to convince Putin not to supply the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, with Russian-made anti-aircraft defences that might endanger Israeli jets on sorties.

Russia said Israel had given only one minute’s warning before launching missile strikes against the Syrian coast.

Russia and Turkey to set up Idlib buffer zone to protect civilians Read more

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict, said huge explosions were heard in Latakia on Monday night, wounding more than 10 people, whom they identified as “regime forces and military personnel”.

Russia’s military operation in Syria, which began in late 2015, has turned the tide of the conflict in favour of Moscow’s ally Assad in his fight against rebels.

At the same time, Israel’s air force has launched scores of attacks on Syrian territory in a campaign it says is to prevent its arch-enemy, Iran, another Assad ally, from gaining a military foothold in a neighbouring country. The strikes have also targeted arms shipments in Syria to Lebanon’s Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement.

In April, France joined the US and Britain to launch more than 100 missiles at what they said were Syrian chemical weapons facilities in retaliation for a suspected poison attack. A senior French army chief said this month that Paris was ready to strike again under similar circumstances.

The Kremlin played down speculation that the incident could affect its ability to strike deals among rival sides in the Syrian conflict. Russia has sought to trade on its influence with the Syrian and Iranian governments, and Israel has lobbied Russia to push back against growing Iranian influence in Syria, particularly near Israeli-controlled territory.

Russia publicly deployed military police to the Golan Heights frontier between Syria and Israel last month amid heightened tensions in the area. The deployment of advanced Russian air defence systems to Syria has also raised concerns about the safety of Israeli forces acting in the area.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said on Tuesday that recent agreements with Turkey about de-escalation zones near the rebel stronghold of Idlib would be unaffected by the downing of the plane.