Tel Aviv responds to Moscow on Il-20 incident

The Israel Defense Forces commented on the incident with the downed Russian Il-20 plane.

The press service said that Israel expresses sorrow for the death of the crew members of the Russian IIl-20 plane that was downed in Syria.

The Israeli government stated that it is in constant touch with the Russian government and armed forces and will share all the relevant information with the Russian Government to review the incident and to confirm the facts in this inquiry.

At the same time, Israel holds the Assad regime, whose military shot down the Russian plane, fully responsible for this incident. "Overnight, IDF fighter jets targeted a facility of the Syrian Armed Forces from which systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons were about to be transferred on behalf of Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon," the statement says.

The Defense Forces stressed that that they warned the Russian side about the strike.

"The IDF and the Russian army have a deconfliction system, which was agreed upon by the states' leaders, and has proven itself many times over recent years. This system was in use tonight as well," the press service added.