Russia retreated from supplying Syrian regime with S-300 system after Netanyahu's visit

NEWS DESK

Vladimir Kojin, assistant to President Vladimir Putin, who oversees Russian military aid to other countries, made the remarks following a visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow this week, which put great pressure on Putin not to provide Syria with rockets, according to Reuters.

Russia said last month it would supply the Syrian regime with rockets despite Israel's objections after Western military strikes on Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the time that the strikes exempted Russia from any moral obligation to stop the delivery of the missiles.

He added "The Syrian army already has everything it needs."
Israel has made repeated efforts to persuade Moscow not to sell S-300 missiles to Syria, fearing it will limit its air capability to target arms shipments to the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group. Israel has carried out dozens of air strikes against suspected shipments

On Thursday, Israel said it attacked nearly all of Iran's military positions in Syria after Iranian forces fired rockets into areas under Israeli control.

S-300 missile system was developed by the Soviet army but has been updated and is now available in several versions with different capabilities. The system launches rockets from trucks designed to shoot down military aircraft and short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
Although the most sophisticated S-400 system has replaced it, S-300 is still very powerful and outperforms all the Syrian government's current missiles.

A.H

ANHA