Israel Used Civilian Airliners as Cover in Attack on Syria

Israel killed nine in strikes near Palmyra

Israel attacking Syria is nothing new, but the Wednesday night strikes near Palmyra are raising some eyebrows, with the reports that the attacking F-16s deliberately used civilian airliners as cover to strike with impunity.

This isn’t the first time Israel has done this. They appear to be betting that the Syrian air defense systems won’t be activated around civilian airliners for fear of embarrassing shootdown incidents.

Such tactics have been harshly criticized by Russia in the past, as in 2018 they used a Russian spy plane for cover, getting the plane shut down and 15 crew members killed. Russia declared Israel wholly responsible.

The airliners weren’t hit in this case, though Israel did kill nine people in the attacks. The reckless and willful endangerment of the planes may still be a bigger deal, and shows Israel’s disregard for civilians’ safety so long as they can attack targets with impunity.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.