On Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said that the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus suburbs on 6 February endangered a passenger plane with 172 people on board, prompting it to divert to Russia's Hmeymim airbase in Syria.
A passenger jetliner, which was nearly destroyed by the Israeli air force during its airstrike on Damascus earlier this week, was flying from Iraq rather than Iran, according to the tracking website flightradar24.com.
The portal identified the plane as the Cham Wing Airlines-owned Airbus A320-211, which had flight number 6Q514 and which was flying from the southern Iraqi city of An-Najaf.
The website's playback of Flight 6Q514 confirmed the identity of the plane trying to land at a Damascus airport but then abruptly changing direction and flying towards Russia's Hmeymim Airbase in Syria.
The Flightradar's data come after the Russian Defence Ministry stated on Friday that the Israeli F-16 fighter jets' strikes on Damascus suburbs had put a civilian aircraft on serious risk and forced it to divert to Hmeymim after Syrian air defences were activated to repel the attack.
According to the Ministry's spokesman Igor Konashenkov, an Airbus A320 en route from Tehran to Damascus was forced to make an emergency landing following an Israeli missile attack.
He praised air traffic controllers' “timely actions” which prevented the plane with 172 people on board from being in the…
