Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that a passenger jetliner in Syria was endangered by Israeli fighter jets that used it as shield while striking the suburbs of Damascus the previous day.
The allegation comes as tensions run high in Syria, where fighting has escalated in the northern province of Idlib.
Syrian government forces, backed by the Russian military, have clashed with Turkish troops that support the opposition there after failing to observe a cease-fire.
A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister did not respond to a request for comment. Israel rarely acknowledges strikes carried out in Syria.
Israel has repeatedly struck Syrian and Iran-linked targets in Syria in recent years and has vowed to push back against increasing Iranian influence in its neighboring country.
The news of the alleged near-miss came amid jitters just a month after a Ukrainian passenger plane crashed shortly after take-off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board.
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Iran said the plane was mistakenly shot down by its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
In a statement released Friday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the strike was carried around 2 am local time Thursday.
He said that four Israeli F-16 fighter jets used a passenger plane preparing to land in Damascus as cover while they hit the suburbs of Damascus with eight missiles.
Konashenkov didn't name the airline or flight number, saying only that it was an Airbus-320 en route from Tehran with 172 people on board that "came near to entering the zone of a deadly anti-aircraft missile and artillery fire."
In the statement, the Russian military accused Israel of endangering the "lives of hundreds of innocent civilians."
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