Russia and Israel risked a military confrontation on Tuesday after a Russian reconnaissance plane with 15 people onboard was mistakenly shot down by allied Syria forces that were targeting Israeli jets.

Russia's defence ministry said that Israeli F-16 pilots were using its Ilyushin Il-20 turbo-prop aircraft signal as cover while carrying out strikes against targets in Latakia province and put it in the line of fire from Syrian missiles.

The aircraft was hit 22 miles off Latakia’s coast in the eastern Mediterranean on Monday evening as it was returning to a Russian airbase nearby.

President Vladimir Putin was forced to step in to defuse the escalating row between the two countries, which have an uneasy alliance despite backing opposing sides in the Syrian war.

Israel, which appears to have been targeting an ammunitions depot linked to the Lebanese Shia militia Hizbullah, denied it was its intention to provoke Syria into firing at the Russian plane.