Russia says Syria shot down one of its military planes, blames Israel - RIA

Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that the Syrian military had accidentally shot down a Russian military plane over Syria, but said it blamed the incident on Israel, the RIA news agency reported.

The ministry had previously said that the plane had vanished from radar screens over Syria at the same time as Israeli and French forces were launching strikes on targets in Syria.

On Tuesday, the ministry accused Israeli military planes of deliberately creating a "dangerous" situation near the Syrian city of Latakia -- which is close to a Russian air base where it said the Il-20 aircraft was preparing to land, RIA reported.

The Ministry of Defence said 15 Russian military service people had died because of what it described as Israel's irresponsible actions. It said Israel had only warned it one minute before launching the strikes, RIA reported.