Israel Wants To Prevent Russian S-300 Supplies To Syria

Israel Wants to Prevent Russian S-300 Supplies to Syria - Ex-Defense Minister

 Israel does not want Syria to receive Russia’s S-300 surface-to-air missile systems and has channels of cooperation with Moscow to try to prevent such supplies, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told Sputnik.

“If the Russian government asks us whether to supply the S-300 or not, we would like these systems not to fall into the hands of the Syrians. Earlier, when such questions arose, we used the appropriate channels to discuss them with the Russian leadership. Now it also receives signals from our authorities about the undesirability of such supplies,” former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who left office in 2016, said in an interview.

Yaalon’s successor, Avigdor Lieberman, has repeatedly threatened to destroy the S-300 systems if Damascus uses them against Israeli aircraft that regularly strike targets in the neighboring country.

Yaalon himself believes Israeli forces are ready to bypass modern air defense systems.

“You know that the entire Syrian air defense system is based on Soviet or Russian equipment — SA-2, SA-5, SA-17, SA-22 [NATO reporting names for S-75, S-200, Buk and Pantsir systems]. The S-300 is a more powerful system, and we do not like it to appear in Syria, but just as we are ready and able to overcome the entire existing air defense of Syria, we should be ready to deal with the S-300,” Yaalon said.

Mutual understanding between Israeli and Russian army has significantly increased over last decades, he noted.

“We are glad that in the past there were times of the Cold War when Israeli pilots were confronted by Soviet pilots or SA-2, SA-3 [S-125] air defense systems under Soviet control. Since 1991, we have the official, open relations. That does not mean that we look at all the same questions, but we have channels to talk with each other… Therefore, we manage to find mutual understanding on many issues,” Yaalon stated.

On April 14, following US-led strikes on Syria, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff Col. Gen. Sergey Rudskoy said Russia might consider supplies of the S-300 air defense systems to Damascus.