Russia ‘testing missiles in Syria’

RUSSIA has used the battleground in Syria to test a “frightening” range of missiles and other deadly weaponry, the head of the British Army has warned.

General Sir Nick Carter said Vladimir Putin had been able to develop an “expeditionary capability” for his military in the war-torn country.

The fighting in the Middle East has given large numbers of Russian officers “high-end” war experience.

The Kremlin’s military has been able to try out more than 150 new weapons – including long-range missiles – and items of equipment in its war against opponents of brutal Syrian dictator Bashar alAssad, Gen Carter said.

In October 2015, Russia launched strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea – about 1500km away.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the time that four warships fired 26 cruise missiles at 11 targets, destroying them and causing no civilian casualties.

Gen Carter showed a threeminute Russian propaganda video of Moscow’s deadly weaponry detailing what he called “eye-watering” capabilities.

“(The Russians) have used Syria to develop an expeditionary capability,” he said.

Spelling out specific threats, Gen Carter said that Russia was also using large numbers of drones to locate precise targets before firing missiles at them at an extremely rapid rate. The general said that “electronic warfare prompting drone attacks, which then deliver a very frightening array of missiles, is something that is significantly challenging for us”.

In just the past five years the number of Russian air, sea and land-based launchers for longrange missiles has increased by a factor of 12, he said, while Moscow has also boasted of increasing the number of missiles with a range of up to 4000km by a factor of 30.

These advances have given the Russians the capability to create mobile “missile domes”, which then enable them to “seal airspace over significant distances”, Gen Carter said.

These acted as a “shield in which they can assure their freedom to manoeuvre and deny us the ability to act”.

Gen Carter also warned that Russia poses the “most complex and capable” security challenge since the end of the Cold War.

He likened the situation to the run-up to World War I.

“We, I think, should be careful of complacency, the parallels with 1914 are stark,” he said.

(THE RUSSIANS) HAVE USED SYRIA TO DEVELOP AN EXPEDITIONARY CAPABILITY SIR NICK CARTER