Six Israeli F-16 fighter jets directly threatened to two civil planes during a recent airstrike on Syria, Gen. Maj. Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman of the Russian Defence Ministry, said on Wednesday.
"Provocative actions of the Israeli Air Force on the evening of 25 December, when six F-16 aircraft launched an airstrike on the territory of Syria from the airspace of neighbouring Lebanon, created a direct threat to two passenger aircraft", the spokesman said.
According to Konashenkov, the attack was being conducted while the two civil aircraft were landing at the airports of Beirut and Damascus. He specified that the two passenger planes did not belong to Russian air carriers.
'Under Cover' of Civil Aircraft
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated that the Israeli airstrikes on Syria has again been carried out "under cover" of passenger planes landing in Damascus and Beirut.
The ministry described the airstrikes as flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty and UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 1701 on the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Earlier, the Syrian SANA news agency reported that the Israeli Air Force last night carried out an unprecedented 1.5-hour long attack on Syria, with the majority of the Israeli missiles being intercepted by Syrian air defences.
Earlier in December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue Israeli operations in Syria to counter Iran's military presence in the country, following the US' decision to withdraw from the Arab Republic.
"The decision to withdraw 2,000 US troops from Syria will not change our consistent policy. We will continue to act against Iran's attempts to gain a military foothold there and, if necessary, even expand our operations", Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting.
Iran has repeatedly stated that its forces maintain an exclusively advisory role in Syria, and denies any plans to establish a permanent military presence in the country.