DAMASCUS: A top Syrian official has said a new air defense system from ally Russia will force Israel to “think carefully” before carrying out any more air strikes in the country.
Moscow announced on Monday it would deliver the advanced S-300 air defense system, a week after the Syrian military downed a Russian plane by mistake following an Israeli air strike.
Russia has blamed the friendly fire on Israeli pilots using the larger Russian plane as “cover.”
Late Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Meqdad said Damascus welcomed the delivery of the advanced S-300 system promised to arrive within two weeks.
It replaces Syria’s existing Russian-built S-200 system, which dates back to the Soviet era, in a move that had been due to take place in 2013 but was held up by Russia at Israel’s request.
“I think that Israel, which is accustomed to carrying out many attacks under different pretexts, will have to think carefully about attacking Syria again,” Meqdad said.
In recent years, Israel has carried out repeated air strikes in war-torn Syria against Iranian targets and what is says are advanced arm deliveries to Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
Iran and Hezbollah are allies of President Bashar Assad in the seven-year civil war.
“Let the Israelis try, we will defend ourselves as we always do,” the state SANA news agency quoted Meqdad as saying.
The downing of the Russian plane late Monday last week killed all 15 soldiers on board, after an Israeli plane targeted a military position in the northwestern province of Latakia.
The accident was the deadliest friendly fire between Syria and Russia since Moscow’s game-changing military intervention in the war in 2015.
More than 360,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the conflict erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria says new air defenses will make Israel think twice
Syria says new air defenses will make Israel think twice
- Moscow announced on Monday it would deliver the advanced S-300 air defense system
- Al-Meqdad said Damascus welcomed the delivery of the advanced S-300 system
Israel says carrying out ‘large-scale strikes’ on Tehran
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it launched “large-scale strikes” on Tehran on Monday, two days since the start of a US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
“The Israeli Air Force... has begun an additional wave of strikes against the Iranian terror regime at the heart of Tehran,” the military said in a statement.
Israel announced the new “large-scale” strikes, while President Donald Trump vowed to avenge the deaths of US service members and said the war could last for weeks.
In other developments:
• The European Union has warned of the cost to the Middle East of a long war, and said it was reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea with additional vessels as Iran’s retaliation to US-Israeli strikes threatens maritime traffic, a European diplomat said.
Two new French ships will join the EU’s Aspides mission, bringing to five the number of warships taking part, the diplomat told AFP.
• Gulf states vowed to defend themselves against Iranian attacks, including by “responding to the aggression” if need be, after the Gulf Cooperation Council convened via video-link to formulate a unified response.
• Top US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio will make the case Tuesday to Congress for the attack on Iran. Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and military chief General Dan Caine “will brief the full membership of both chambers of Congress,” White House spokesman Dylan Johnson said.
• Container shipping company Maersk said it was halting passage through the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz for “safety” reasons.
The Danish group was the latest of several shipping groups to make similar announcements after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards declared the strait closed on Saturday.
• Seven people were injured in the Jerusalem area following the latest salvo of missiles fired from Iran, Israeli firefighters said.
• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had agreed to let the United States use UK bases to fire “defensive” strikes aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and their launchers. But in a video address posted to social media, he added: “We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and we will not join offensive action now.
• Iranian media reported that a police station in a city on the outskirts of Tehran had been hit, killing an unspecified number of people, with others reportedly trapped under debris. “According to initial reports, a number of citizens were martyred and some were trapped under the rubble,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
• Iranian news agency ISNA reported that Gandhi hospital in northern Tehran had been targeted by strikes. The Fars and Mizan agencies published a video, presented as being from inside the facility, showing debris on the floor among wheelchairs.
