Contents tagged with Israel

  • Russia deploys troops and S-300 missile systems to Syrian Deir ez-Zor as Iran leaves the area

    After the forces of Bashar Al-Assad and his allies took control of several areas in Deir ez-Zor province, Iran has attempted to strengthen its military and religious presence in the area.

    However, according to the Euphrates Post which reports on the developments in the area, pro-Iranian militias withdrew from their bases in the cities of Mayadin and Abu Kamal while Russian troops have moved in these areas.  Euphrates Post reports that the Russian military arrived on Saturday along with their …

  • Netanyahu and Putin agree to meet

    For the first time since the Israeli air raid on Syria and the incident with the Russian IL-20 reconnaissance aircraft, erroneously shot down by Syrian air defense, the leaders of Russia and Israel have managed to agree on a meeting.

    Haaretz reports that the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Israeli government about the forthcoming meeting with Putin. Speaking at the meeting of Israeli government in Jerusalem, Netanyahu expressed condolences to the families of Israelis …

  • Israel: Russian S-300 missile systems are not capable of defeating F-35 fighter jets

    The Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation, Tzachi Hanegbi said on the army radio that Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, which Moscow supplied to Damascus, will not be able to detect F-35 fighters, reports Haaretz.

    “You know, we have stealth-fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries (S-300) are not even able to detect them,“ he said. As the newspaper notes, the first F-35 arrived in Israel in 2017.

    Russia decided to transfer the S-300 to Syria, after the Syrian …

  • Media: Israel provides evidence that it was not involved in Russian Il-20 crash

    “Images showing the locations of the air targets from the radar screen", which the Russian Defense Ministry used as a proof of Israel’s responsibility in the Il-20 crash, were fabricated, writes the Haaretz newspaper referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources.

    The IDF said that on September 17, four Israeli F-16 fighters fired missiles at the target in the Syrian province of Latakia from the airspace east of Cyprus at 21:42. Four minutes before that, at 21:38, the Israelis warned the …

  • Israel claims that Hezbollah with the help of Iran is creating missile factories in Lebanon

    The Israeli military claims that the Hezbollah is attempting to build infrastructure in Beirut to improve surface-to-surface missiles and develop them into guided missiles. The Israel Defense Force press service published photos on Thursday, taken from the air over several districts in the Lebanese capital and provided commentary to the photos.

    “For over a year the Hezbollah is trying to build infrastructure to convert surface-to-surface missiles into precision-guided missiles in the area of …

  • Israel promises to destroy Russian S-300 missile systems in Syria if they are used against Israeli aircraft

    Defense Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman said that any anti-aircraft systems that fire at Israel’s aircraft will be destroyed. “If someone starts shooting at our aircraft, we will destroy them. And we don’t care if it was S-300 or S-700,” he said.

    Meanwhile, according to Lieberman, Israel is not very worried about the presence of Russian S-300 missile systems in Syria. “The most important thing is that the defense systems supplied by Russia to Syria are not  used against us,” the minister …

  • Russia decides to arm Syria with S-300 missile systems after Il-20 incident

    After Syrian anti-air defense systems mistakenly downed a Russian Il-20 while trying to repel an Israeli air strike on Latakia, Russia has decided to send a S-300 system to Syria, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu announced.

    “Over the course of two weeks, the Syrian Armed Forces will be delivered a modern S-300 ground-to-air missile system. It can intercept aerial means of attack at a distance of more than 250 km, and can take out several air targets at once,” Shoygu noted.

    “I emphasize …

  • Il-20 crash will not affect Israeli strategy in Syria

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it is not responsible for the destruction of the Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane and did not use the plane as cover during its attack on Syria, Interfax reports.

    “Israel’s fighters did not hide behind the Russian plane, and were in Israeli air space when the plane crashed,” the IDF’s official statement reads.

    The situation surrounding the downing of the Il-20 over Syria will not change Israel’s plans to make air raids against the pro-Iranian …

  • Israel: downing of IL-20 which resulted in death of 15 Russians was caused by 'indiscriminate firing' by the Syrian air defense

    On September 20, Israeli Defense Forces delegation led by Air Force Commander Major-General Amikam Norkin arrived in Moscow with a report regarding the Russian Il-20 crash in Syria.

    According to ‘The Times of Israel’, after Moscow’s accusations, the Israeli government made "full-scale diplomatic efforts" to resolve the situation fearing to lose close cooperation with the Russian military in Syria. In particular, Israel took unusual actions by openly acknowledging the fact of carrying out the …

  • Russian military observer: Russia lost control of Syrian airspace and shot down the IL-20

    The crash of the Russian Il-20 aircraft in the district of the Syrian city of Latakia was caused by the fact that the Russian military lost control of the airspace and the Syrian air defense system in the area of its Khmeimim airbase, writes Russian journalist and military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer in his blog for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

    He reminded that the air defense system of the Assad's Syrian Arab Armed Forces, which the Soviet Union helped to build, was almost fully destroyed due …