Russia has blamed Israel after one of its military aircraft was reportedly shot down by Syrian air defence.

There were 15 people on board when the plane went down, with all believed to have been killed in the crash.

The plane disappeared off radar around 35 kilometres off Syria at around 11pm local time on Monday night.

The plane had been returning to Hmeimim airbase, near Lattakia.

While it's believed to have been downed by Syrian surface-to-air missiles, Moscow has accused Israel of being responsible for the downing.

According to Russia, Israeli jets are believed to have been attacking nearby targets at the time - leaving the Russian plane exposed to air defence.

In a statement quoted by the TASS news agency, a Russian defence ministry spokesperson said: "By using the Russian plane as cover the Israeli air pilots made it vulnerable to Syrian air defense fire.

"As a result, the Ilyushin-20, its reflective surface being far greater than that of the F-16, was downed by a missile launched with the S-200 system."

He added: "A hotline warning was received less than one minute before the strike, which left no chance for getting the Russian plane to safety."

Officials added that Moscow 'reserved the right to proper retaliatory actions'.

Israeli and Syrian officials have yet to comment on the allegations.

However, Syrian state media reported that the country's air defences had "intercepted and downed" a number of missiles near Lattakia.