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Russia to supply Syria with new air defence system

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Russia will supply Syria with a new anti-aircraft missile system, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed yesterday.

Col Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, the head of the Main Operations Department of the Russian General Staff, told reporters that “Russian experts will continue to train Syrian military servicemen, particularly teaching them to use the new missile defence systems that are planned to be delivered to Syria in the near future”.

Rudskoi did not specify exactly which air defence system, but his remarks follow reports earlier this week in the Russian media that Moscow is considering selling its S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Syria after the missile attack on Syria’s chemical weapons facilities launched by the US, Britain and France earlier this month.

The Russian Defence Ministry also revealed that it retrieved a US Tomahawk cruise missile in Syria and intends to study it in order to improve Russia’s own missile capability.

Israel is concerned that delivery of the the S-300 air defence to Syria will hamper their freedom to take action against Iran and Hezbollah in Syria and would therefore allow Iran to strengthen its military presence in the country.

When asked whether Russia would curtail Israel’s freedom of action in Syria, Russia’s Ambassador to Israel Alexander Shein told Ynet: “It is, of course, in our interest that these actions not take place, because they worsen the Syria situation. We, of course, understand the reasons for Israel deciding to carry out actions of this kind, and would of course also prefer that these reasons not exist.”

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said: “What’s important to us is that the weapons defence systems that the Russians transfer to Syria are not used against us. If they are used against us, we will act against them.”

Ambassador Shein has played down the risk of a physical confrontation between Russia and Israel over Syria. “I can’t imagine any such scenario,” he said in response to Lieberman’s threat. “We are mutually coordinating and updating about Syria … So far, there have been no incidents between us, nor even hints at incidents, and I hope there will not be,” he added.

Since intervening in Syrian civil war to support President Bashar Assad in 2015, Russia has generally turned a blind eye to Israeli air strikes against Iranian arms transfers to its proxies and Hezbollah allies.