BEIRUT, Lebanon — A passenger plane with 172 people aboard made an emergency landing at a Russian military base in Syria on Thursday after drawing fire from Syrian air defenses in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in the area, Russian state news agencies reported on Friday.

A spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Gen. Igor Konashenkov, blamed Israel for the near miss, accusing its military of habitually using civilian aircraft to “cover” its airstrikes and “block” Syrian air defenses from retaliating.

Israel has not acknowledged the airstrike, and its foreign ministry declined to comment on the Russian statement.

The passenger plane, an Airbus A320, was en route to Damascus from Tehran early Thursday when the encounter took place, Gen. Konashenkov said in a statement to Tass and other Russian news outlets. Gen. Konashenkov said the Syrian air defense forces were responding to Israeli fighter jets that had struck the outskirts of Damascus with missiles around the same time, just after 2 a.m.