SyriaIsrael-Russia communication: Straying Russian plane avoid being shot down

Published 30 November 2015

Israel defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, on Sunday told reporters that a Russian jet recently entered Israeli airspace but was not shot down because Israel and Russia had established an effective open communication system between the two countries. Ya’alon said the plane, by mistake, entered about one mile into Israeli airspace and immediately turned around back to Syria when the Russians were notified.

Russian MiG-23M in flight // Source: commons.wikimedia.com

Israel defense minister, Moshe Ya’alon, on Sunday told reporters that a Russian jet recently entered Israeli airspace but was not shot down because Israel and Russia had established an effective open communication system between the two countries. Ya’alon comments highlight the differences between the Israeli and Turkish approach to the reality of Russian military intervention in Syria.

Fox News reports that Ya’alon said the plane, by mistake, entered about one mile into Israeli airspace and immediately turned around back to Syria when the Russians were notified.

After Russia announced its air campaign in Syria, the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, accompanied by high-level military and intelligence officials, met in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, and the two agreed to open a communication channel for Israeli-Russian coordination “to prevent misunderstandings.”

Ya’alon said that so far there has been only one incident of a Russian plane breaching Israeli airspace and that the mistake was “immediately corrected in the communications channel.” He did not offer additional details.

Ya’alon said: “Russian planes don’t intend to attack us and therefore there is no need to automatically, even if there is some kind of mistake, shoot them down.”

Ya’alon told reporters on Sunday that the Russian military notifies Israel in advance when Russian planes plan to get close to the country’s airspace.

“Just as we don’t interfere with their operations and we don’t get involved, as a policy, in what is happening in Syria, they also don’t interfere with us flying and acting in accordance with our interests,” he said.

Since January 2013, Israel has carried out ten airstrikes on military convoys in Syria which were carrying advanced weapons systems from Syrian military depots to Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon (see “Israel attacks in Syria, destroying Hezbollah-bound arms,” HSNW, 27 April 2015).

Israel has a policy of not confirming such operations, but let it be known that it will not allow Assad or Iran to supply advanced or “game-changing” weapon systems to the Shi’a militant group.