The Russian plane in question is a special mission surveillance aircraft. It was not scrambling to meet Israeli jet fighters. The plane was on a surveillance run. That changes things.

It was a Cold War Soviet-era llyushin lL-20 (click here). The USA has some very old aircraft as well. This particular aircraft is not armed for battle. This is a unique loss to Russia as there were only 10 produced.

This engagement of Israeli jets was for national defense. No one can say any differently. The error belongs to Syria. This has nothing to do with the Israeli mission that is obviously one that was for their national security. The Syrian air defense should have known this plane was in the air conducting surveillance. This is not Israeli's problem.

To begin, Israel was not going to notify anyone of their plans to destroy munitions headed for Hezbollah. The Russians would have notified Assad or someone in their military and the military would have moved the munitions or moved against the Israeli jets and the country's national defense would be in the balance. Israel is not engaged in a formal war with Syria and certainly not Russia.

I will state it again. Syria is beyond any real outcome to this civil war. The killing needs to stop and there needs to be support for the people and their right to return. This is a war of attrition and is in a spiral into an oblivion of any citizens. There is nothing and will be nothing but combat militias that will war with each other forever. It is dangerous for the region to allow this to continue as well as a loss to the people of Syria.

If there were a clear understanding of the course forward for Syria, which means the end of killing. The borders need to be secure and the people need to migrate back into the country as corridors of safety are established. There is no other reasonable way forward for Syria. The killing must stop and a return of the people must begin with governance by an authority that is benevolent and able to carry out such reassurances and guarantees to the people.

This incident clearly proves the danger that exists in the region because Syria is a failed state.

September 23, 2018

The Russian Defense Ministry (click here) presented its investigation on Sunday into the downing of a Russian aircraft over Syria last week. In a report detailing the circumstances surrounding the incident, Russia accused Israel of deliberately misleading Russia on its planned airstrikes, preventing the plane in question from moving to a safe place on time.

Fifteen Russian airmen were killed when the Ilyushin 20 airplane was mistakenly shot down by Syria's air defenses soon after an Israeli strike near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia. The Israel Air Force attacked a facility inside Syria containing systems to manufacture precision rockets for Iran and Hezbollah.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that "it looks like a chain of tragic circumstances, because the Israeli plane didn't shoot down our jet." However, the Russian Defense Ministry placed the blame entirely on Israel on Sunday, presenting a number of claims that contradict the Israeli explanations of the events leading to the downing of the plane....

Case in point from 2015:

...Political analyst, (click here) Taleb Ibrahim, told RT that it’s almost certain that Al-Nusra Front is behind the shelling of Latakia.

“It’s not the first time Al-Nusra Front is bombing Latakia or launching missiles at civilians in that city. Moreover, Al-Nusra Front tried to make a lot of explosions by cars inside this city,” he said.

According to the analyst, Al-Nusra Front is the second largest group currently fighting the Syrian government.

It has less manpower than Islamic State, but its troops are much better trained, having experience of fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, he added.

Dr. Ibrahim also said that the US claims of training so-called moderate rebels in Syria are “only a fable.”

“There are no moderates” is Syria, he stressed, adding that even the Western-backed Free Syrian Army is nothing, but “a military arm of the Muslim Brotherhood,” an Egyptian Islamist organization....

These small militias are not capable of governance. They are only capable of killing. That is not going to bring about governance, it will only continue the hostilities.