Israel expresses 'sorrow' for Russian deaths, blames Assad and Iran

Israel's military expressed "sorrow" on Tuesday for the deaths of crew members of a Russian military aircraft accidentally downed by Syria during an Israeli strike, but blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran.

"Israel expresses sorrow for the deaths of the aircrew members of the Russian plane that was downed tonight due to Syrian anti-aircraft fire," a military statement said in Israel's first reaction to the incident.

"Israel holds the Assad regime, whose military shot down the Russian plane, fully responsible for this incident. Israel also holds Iran and the Hezbollah terror organisation accountable for this unfortunate incident." It said the Israeli raid late Monday targeted a Syrian military facility where weapons manufacturing systems were "about to be transferred on behalf of Iran" to Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

Iran is Israel's main enemy, while it also fought a war with Hezbollah in 2006. Israel also disputed Russia's assertion that it used the aircraft that was later downed with 15 crew aboard as cover while it carried out the strike.

"During the strike against the target in Latakia, the Russian plane that was then hit was not within the area of the operation," a military statement said.

It added that "when the Syrian army launched the missiles that hit the Russian plane, (Israeli) jets were already within Israeli airspace." "Extensive and inaccurate Syrian anti-aircraft (surface-to-air missile) fire caused the Russian plane to be hit and downed," the statement said.