Russia to send air defense systems to Syria
Russia will provide advanced anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria and directly link up with the air-defense network of its Middle Eastern ally, stepping up support for the regime of President Bashar Assad after the downing of a reconnaissance plane last week.
The move announced Monday could worsen a rift with Israel by limiting its ability to bomb across its northern border.
Moscow blamed the shoot-down of the aircraft, which killed 15 Russian servicemen, on Israel, whose planes were attacking targets in Syria at the same time.
Israel has long called on Russia not to provide the S300 air-defense system to Syria, and in 2013 the Kremlin agreed to put a deal to deliver them on hold.
But after the downing of the plane last week, “the situation has changed,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in an address carried live on national television. “We’re confident that these measures will cool ‘hot heads’ and prevent thoughtless moves that threaten our servicemen,” he said.
Israel said its warplanes were targeting a Syrian facility involved in arms shipments to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton called the deployment a “major mistake,” The Associated Press reported, 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,” Mr. Bolton said.
He added that “[w]e have American forces in the area we’re concerned about,” and that the “Israelis have a legitimate right to self-defense against this Iranian aggressive behavior, and what we’re all trying to do is reduce tensions, reduce the possibility of major new hostilities.”
President Vladimir Putin told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone conversation Monday that the actions of Israel’s pilots “were the main reason for the tragedy,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Mr. Putin defended the S300 delivery and other steps as “appropriate in the current situation,” the Kremlin said, noting that Israel asked for the call.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Mr. Putin appeared to take a softer line with Israel than the military did, noting that it was Syrian air defenses that shot down the plane.
In a call with Mr. Netanyahu last week, Mr. Putin didn’t outline any retaliatory measures, agreeing only to prevent such steps in the future, the Kremlin said in a statement at the time.
But Monday, the Kremlin seemed to take a tougher stance, blaming the downing on “the deliberate actions of Israeli pilots” and saying Israel’s explanations weren’t convincing, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “This can’t but harm our relations,” he said.
Mr. Putin spoke to Assad by phone Monday and informed him of the plan to provide the missiles, the Kremlin said in a statement.