Two rockets were fired at a crowded Russian passenger plane over Syria, according to the Interfax News Agency.  The passengers were not harmed.

The Russian charter carrier Nordwind Airlines Airbus A-320 was carrying from 150 to 200 passengers and crew from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh to the Russian city of Kazan.

“The Syrian side informed us that on Monday morning unidentified people had fired two land-to-air missiles which exploded in the immediate proximity of a civilian plane belonging to a Russian airline,” according to a source quoted in the Interfax report. The Russians say not only did the rockets fail to connect, but also the plane made it back on schedule.

Earlier on Monday, Syria’s Prime Minister Wael al-Halki survived a bomb attack in Damascus, an act that was quickly condemned by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. 

“The Secretary-General has consistently condemned all acts of terrorism,” Ban’s press office said.  “The targeting of civilians and civilian objects by anyone is unacceptable.”

The episodes detail the risks ahead for US President Barack Obama.  On the one hand, he said that Syria’s use of chemical weapons would be a “game changer” for US involvement in the 2-year-old Syrian Civil war.  That line has apparently been crossed.

But weapons in the hands of the rebels can come back to bite the US.  If US-supplied weaponry were to down a Russian airplane, it would not sit well with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a time when the Americans especially need Russian cooperation on security matters because of the Boston Marathon Bombings.