Russia boosts Syrian air defense

MOSCOW — Russia has announced new security measures to protect its military in Syria, including supplying the Syrian Army with an S-300 air defense system and jamming radars of nearby warplanes following the downing of a Russian plane last week.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said President Vladimir Putin ordered additional security measures after a Syrian S-200 missile shot down the Russian surveillance plane by mistake last week, killing 15 in an accident Moscow blames on Israel.

“This has pushed us to adopt adequate response measures directed at boosting the security of Russian troops” in Syria, Shoigu said in a televised statement.

“(Russia will) transfer the modern S-300 air defense system to the Syrian armed forces within two weeks.”

The accident was the deadliest friendly fire between Syria and its key backer Russia since Moscow’s game-changing 2015 military intervention on the side of the Syrian government.

Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad discussed the additional measures and delivery of the S-300 system on the phone on Monday, the Kremlin said.

Putin blames Israel

Putin also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he disagreed with the Israeli version of events and pinned the blame on the Israeli military.

“The information provided by the Israeli military ... runs counter to conclusions of the Russian defense ministry,” the Kremlin said of Monday’s call between Putin and Netanyahu.

“The Russian side proceeds from the fact that the actions by the Israeli air force were the main reason for the tragedy,” the Kremlin added.

Shoigu said the Syrian military had already been trained to use the S-300 system, which was set to be sent over in 2013 but held up “at the request of Israel”.

In Washington, the US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Monday that Russia’s latest decision to deploy the S-300 system in Syria would be a “major mistake”.

Bolton told the media that the decision would represent a “significant escalation” in the already mounting tensions in the region, and thus should be reconsidered.

He said that US troops would not leave Syria “as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders”.

Moscow said Israeli F-16 planes which struck Latakia in western Syria last week later used the landing Russian Il-20 surveillance plane as “cover”, which resulted in the larger Il-20 being hit by a Syrian missile.

The Russian military has said that Israel’s air force informed its command in Syria via the established deconfliction hotline, but only one minute before the airstrikes — and gave the wrong target location.

Because of this, Moscow claims that the Russian air force could not keep its plane safe.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Monday that Netanyahu told Putin that equipping Syria with sophisticated missiles will “endanger” the Middle East.