Russian-Israeli Dispute Erupts over Delivery of S-300 System to Syria

Russia plans to go ahead with arming Syria with the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. (Getty Images)
Russia plans to go ahead with arming Syria with the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. (Getty Images)
TT

Russian-Israeli Dispute Erupts over Delivery of S-300 System to Syria

Russia plans to go ahead with arming Syria with the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. (Getty Images)
Russia plans to go ahead with arming Syria with the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. (Getty Images)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that his country intended to provide Syria with the advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems.

He said that the US, British and French strikes against Syria last week lifted “moral obligations” that were deterring Moscow from going through with the deal.

“Now, we have no moral obligations. We had the moral obligations, we had promised not to do it some 10 years ago, I think, upon the request of our known partners,” he said according to RIA.

He added that Moscow had respected the Western claim that supplying Syria with such arms would destabilize the region, even though the system plays a defensive role.

“After the recent attack however, we see no reason to commit to those pledges,” said the minister.

It appears that the delivery of the system is now only awaiting the signal from Russia President Vladimir Putin, in a move that will anger Israel.

An Israeli official had previously threatened to strike the S-300 system if they are deployed in Syria.

The delivery of the system will be a precedent because it will threaten the balance of regional powers.

Russia’s statements on Friday can therefore be interpreted as political and military messages to not only the United States, but Israel as well. Moscow has long preserved a delicate balance with Tel Aviv, while also maintaining ties with its rivals, Tehran and Damascus.

Former head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate Amos Yadlin had confirmed that Russia will soon deploy the system in Syria.

“A plan has been set in place to deal with this threat. We will return to square one after eliminating this threat, which is exactly what we intend to do.”

The delivery of the S-300 system will not be a long process because the new batteries for these missile had already been sent to Syria in October 2016. This week’s announcement on the system only entails their redeployment at vital Syrian locations, such as airports, instead of their current positions near the Hmeimem and Tartus Russian bases.

Moscow had supplied Syria with the S-300 system in 2016 to counter “Washington’s mounting threats to carry out military operations against Syrian positions.”

The US, meanwhile, is also worried about the new system, not only due to its concern over its ally, Israel, but because it is aware that the S-300 can be merged with the S-400 system.

The merger will form a strong defense against any attack, stated Russian Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov.

Moreover, the US concern can also be traced to who controls the S-300 system in Syria. Having the Russians control the system is one thing, but having the regime control it is another.

Regardless of the discrepancy in estimates over the number of rockets that were intercepted, the truth remains that the Syrian defenses managed to mobilize to confront an attack. This alone is a cause for concern and supplying Damascus with the S-300 will be an even greater concern.

It becomes clear now why the Russia chose this week, in wake of the strike, to announce that it intends to deliver the new missile system to Syria. It was only waiting for the right time to do so and the Western strike was the excuse it needed.



Israeli Army Orders Gaza City Suburb Evacuated, Spurring New Displacement Wave

A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT

Israeli Army Orders Gaza City Suburb Evacuated, Spurring New Displacement Wave

A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
A Palestinian man points at a damaged building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on November 20, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Sunday, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.
The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by the Israeli army spokesperson on X on Saturday night were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.
"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south," the military's post said. The rocket volley on Saturday was claimed by Hamas' armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.
Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.
Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Saturday and into Sunday's early hours, residents and Palestinian media said - the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.
In central Gaza, health officials said at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the urban camps of Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij since Saturday night.
HOSPITAL DIRECTOR WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE
In north Gaza, where Israeli forces have been operating against regrouping Hamas militants since early last month, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director Hussam Abu Safiya.
"This will not stop us from completing our humanitarian mission and we will continue to do this job at any cost," Abu Safiya said in a video statement circulated by the health ministry on Sunday.
"We are being targeted daily. They targeted me a while ago but this will not deter us...," he said from his hospital bed.
Israeli forces say armed militants use civilian buildings including housing blocks, hospitals and schools for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in north Gaza that are barely operational as the health ministry said the Israeli forces have detained and expelled medical staff and prevented emergency medical, food and fuel supplies from reaching them.
In the past few weeks, Israel said it had facilitated the delivery of medical and fuel supplies and the transfer of patients from north Gaza hospitals in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns - Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun - said Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of militants.
Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.
Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, uprooted nearly all the enclave's 2.3 million population at least once, according to Gaza officials, while reducing wide swathes of the narrow coastal territory to rubble.
The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.