Media: Israel provides evidence that it was not involved in Russian Il-20 crash
“Images showing the locations of the air targets from the radar screen", which the Russian Defense Ministry used as a proof of Israel’s responsibility in the Il-20 crash, were fabricated, writes the Haaretz newspaper referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources.
The IDF said that on September 17, four Israeli F-16 fighters fired missiles at the target in the Syrian province of Latakia from the airspace east of Cyprus at 21:42. Four minutes before that, at 21:38, the Israelis warned the Russian military about the upcoming air strikes.
At 21:50, the missiles reached the ground targets. At this time, the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft was 200 km to the east of the Israeli aircraft. After receiving information about the operation, it began to move to the west.
The Syrian Air Defense Force responded by launching 27 missiles at 21.52, two minutes after Israeli missiles hit ground targets. One of the missiles struck the plane at 10:05 pm. At that time, the IDF fighters had already flown past Haifa and started their landing.
A Syrian rocket shot down the Russian IL-20 over the Mediterranean Sea, killing 15 Russian soldiers.