ISRAEL was accused today of using two passenger jets as a shield during Wednesday’s missile strikes on Syria’s Homs province.

Russian general Vadim Kulit told a press briefing that the Syrian armed forces held back from targeting the Israeli air force F-16 tactical fighters as they launched an attack in the Palmyra region.

“The Syrian military leadership decided not to use air defence systems, since at the time of the Israeli aviation attack, two civilian passenger aircraft were in the zone of destruction of the anti-aircraft systems,” he said.