ANSD : Russia to supply Syria with new S-300 air defense system

SAT 27 - 4 - 2024

Date: Sep 25, 2018
Source: The Daily Star

Russia to supply Syria with new S-300 air defense system

MOSCOW: Russia announced Monday it will supply Syria’s government with sophisticated S-300 air defense systems after last week’s downing of a Russian plane by regime forces responding to an Israeli airstrike, a friendly fire incident that stoked regional tensions.

The Russian Il-20 military reconnaissance aircraft was downed by Syrian air defenses that mistook it for an Israeli aircraft, killing all 15 people on board. Russia laid the blame on Israel, saying Israeli fighter jets had pushed the plane into Syria’s line of fire, an account denied by the Israeli military.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that the S-300 missile defense systems will be delivered to Damascus within two weeks. Earlier in the war, Russia suspended a supply of S-300s, which Israel feared Syria could use against it.

Shoigu went on television to say that Russia was now going to go ahead with the shipment because “the situation has changed, and it’s not our fault.”

Shortly after his statement, Putin got a call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him that the Russian move was “aimed primarily at fending off any potential threat to the lives of Russian servicemen,” according to a readout of the call issued by the Kremlin.

Shoigu announced that Russia would equip Syrian air defenses with a new automated control system to enhance its efficiency and help identify Russian aircraft. He said the Russian military will start using electronic countermeasures to jam any aircraft that would try to launch attacks off Syria’s coast like the Israeli strike that resulted in the Russian plane’s downing.

“We are convinced that these measures will calm down some hotheads and keep them from careless actions which pose a threat to our troops,” he said.

In its readout of the call with Putin, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli prime minister “stressed once again that the responsibility for the unfortunate incident lay on the Syrian army that shot it down and on Iran, whose aggression is destabilizing the region.” In an apparent reference to the S-300, the statement said “transferring advanced weapons to irresponsible hands will increase the dangers in the region,” adding that Israel will “continue to defend its security and interests.”

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton meanwhile said Monday that delivery of the Russian S-300 would be a “significant escalation” in already high tensions in the region, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would raise the matter this week with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at the U.N. General Assembly.

“We think introducing the S-300s to the Syrian government would be a significant escalation by the Russians and something that we hope, if these press reports are accurate, they would reconsider,” Bolton said.

Shoigu said that the Israeli military warned Russia about last week’s strike just one minute before launching it and claimed it was being conducted in Syria’s north. Instead, the Israeli jets targeted the western province of Latakia, putting the Russian warplane in the line of fire.

Russian officials said Syria’s Soviet-made S-200 systems, one of which downed the Russian plane, weren’t sophisticated enough to identify the Russian aircraft as a friendly one.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russian news agencies that supplying the S-300 to Syria is Russia’s “own right” and expressed confidence that this would not hurt ties with Israel.

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