On September 24, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Russia will deliver an unspecified number of S-300 air defense systems to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces within the next two weeks. The decision follows a friendly fire air accident on September 17 during which Russian-supplied S-200s in Syria failed to discriminate a Russian reconnaissance plane from Israeli fighter jets conducting an air strike and downed it, killing 15 Russian personnel. Russia blames Israel for this incident. Delivery of the S-300 system was cancelled earlier this year after strong Israeli objections.