BFF-65 US expresses ‘sorrow’ over downing of Russian aircraft in Syria

962

ZCZC

BFF-65

SYRIA-CONFLICT-US-DIPLOMACY,LEAD

US expresses ‘sorrow’ over downing of Russian aircraft in Syria

WASHINGTON, Sept 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
expressed sorrow Tuesday for the downing by Syria of a Russian warplane with
15 people on board, saying it underscored an urgent need to resolve the Syria
conflict.

According to Russian and Israeli forces, the Syrian regime accidentally
shot down the Russian Ilyushin-20 surveillance plane off the Syria coast late
Monday.

It was the worst case of friendly fire between Moscow and Damascus since
Russia’s game-changing military intervention in September 2015.

“The United States expresses sorrow for the death of the aircrew members of
the Russian plane that was downed by Syrian regime anti-aircraft fire,”
Pompeo said in a statement.

It “reminds us of the need to find permanent, peaceful, and political
resolutions to the many overlapping conflicts in the region and the danger of
tragic miscalculation in Syria’s crowded theater of operations.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the shoot-down, using the Russian-
made S-200 air defense system, was the result of “tragic accidental
circumstances.”

Israel has expressed “sorrow” for the Russian deaths, but insisted the
Russian plane had been felled by “extensive and inaccurate Syrian anti-
aircraft (surface-to-air missile) fire.”

The deadly chain of events started when Israeli missiles struck the coastal
region of Latakia on Monday.

Israel confirmed that it had targeted a Syrian military facility where
weapons manufacturing systems were “about to be transferred on behalf of
Iran” to Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

The Russian military accused Israeli pilots of using “the Russian plane as
a cover, exposing it to fire from Syrian air defenses,” a charge Israel
denied.

Pompeo added that the shoot-down underlined the “urgent need to resolve the
Syrian conflict” in accordance with UN resolutions and “to end Iran’s
provocative transit of dangerous weapon systems through Syria, which are a
threat to the region.”

BSS/AFP/MRI/2321 HRS