A RUSSIAN spy plane with 14 servicemen on board was accidentally blown out of the sky by their Syrian allies, it has been claimed.

Moscow has blamed the Israeli Air Force for pushing the Il-20 plane, which vanished off the Mediterranean Sea coast at 8pm last night, into the path of Syrian rockets.

3 A Russian spy plane Il-20M RF-93610 disappeared from radar off the Syrian coast (file photo) Credit: Getty - Contributor

A report given to Sputnik said Russia "lost communication with the crew" around 21 miles off the Syrian coast while on its way back to Hmeimim airbase.

It vanished from radar at around the time Israeli and French forces were launching strikes on targets in Syria, according to the Kremlin.

Russia said an Israeli raid on the coastal city of Latakia, near the Russian airbase where its plane was heading, triggered a "chain of events" which led to the aircraft going down.

It said four Israeli F-16 jets attacked the base at low altitude, using the Il-20 as cover and "set it up to be targeted" by the Syrians, RT reported.

Russian military plane with 14 on board ‘accidentally shot down’ in Latakia during Syria missile strike

3 Video shows explosions in Latakia

It added: "As a consequence, the Il-20, which has radar cross-section much larger than the F-16, was shot down by an S-200 system missile."

Moscow, which "reserves the right to respond accordingly", said the Israelis must have known the plane was in the area.

Its military also said Israel only warned them a minute before the attack which did not leave time for the Russian plane to get to safety.

A US official said Washington believed the turbo-prop plane, used for electronic reconnaissance, was inadvertently shot down by a Syrian anti-aircraft artillery.

3 US officials have reported the Syrian army shot down the Russian plane while trying to thwart an alleged Israeli airstrike

Photo showing the Russian air defences in Hmeimim Airbase trying to stop the missiles from the attacks in Latakia this night.

So wether if it was American or Israeli, the Russian took serious position against it for the first time. pic.twitter.com/Q3ntrIdC3U — Asaad Hanna (@AsaadHannaa) September 17, 2018

The official SANA news agency said the Technical Industry Institution in the state-controlled city had been targeted, adding it isn't known who fired the missiles.

Russian radars registered missiles launched from a French frigate and recorded four Israeli jets over Syria at the time of the attack, Russia Today reports.

The Israeli military refused to comment on claims they were behind the attack on Syria.

This comes hours after Turkey and Russia agreed to establish a buffer zone in the Idlib province of Syria.

Vladimir Putin today announced a 15-20km-wide zone would be set up by October 15.

Under the deal, all heavy weaponry, including tanks, rocket launch systems and mortar launchers operated by rebel groups would need to be pulled out of the buffer zone by 10 October.

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