“You always have to remember the first lesson in military history: Don’t mess with the Russians,” a senior officer in the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday – without realizing how prophetic his words were.

The incident in the Syrian skies on Monday night  has now put Israel in an extremely difficult position with the  Russians, and is liable to negatively influence the strategic freedom of  action its air force had enjoyed on the northern front until now.

This is true even as Russian President Vladimir Putin absolved Israel of  downing the aircraft, saying the incident was a result of a “tragic chain of circumstances.”
Israeli fighter jets  attacked Iranian-related targets in Syria. Syrian aerial defenses tried  to thwart the Israeli attack and accidentally hit a Russian Air Force  plane with a Russian-made missile.

Read the full article in Haaretz here.