You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia sent missile systems to Syria: Air force chief
2015-11-06
[AlAhram] Russia has sent anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria to back up its air campaign, the commander of the air force Viktor Bondarev said in an interview published Thursday.

"We sent there not just fighter planes, strike aircraft and helicopters but also anti-aircraft rocket systems," Bondarev told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid.

He said that Russia made the decision to bring missile systems to Syria because "we took into account every possible threat."

"There could be various force majeure situations. Let's imagine a military plane is hijacked and taken to a neighbouring country and air strikes are aimed at us. And we have to be ready for this."

A source told Interfax news agency that the systems deployed to Syria included the BUK and Pantsir systems.

"The system is set up along the lines of Israel's Iron dome," the source said.

Bondarev said Russia has "more than 50 planes and helicopters" in Syria, "precisely the number we need. At the moment, we do not need more."

He said that a Russian jet that strayed into Turkish territory in October had done so because as it flew along the Turkish border in dense cloud "the equipment showed that some ground-based air defence systems were trying to capture the plane.

"Therefore the pilot had to make an anti-missile manoeuvre. So he passed into the Turkish air a tiny bit. As we honestly admitted," Bondarev said.

The defence ministry previously said only that the plane strayed into Turkish air space on October 3 because of bad weather conditions.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
said the Russian aircraft exited its airspace after it was intercepted by two Turkish F-16 fighter jets.

NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
called the incident a "serious violation".
Posted by:trailing wife

#1  Now that other post Israel strikes Assad and Hezbollah in Syria makes more sense.
Posted by: Sven the pelter   2015-11-06 13:11  

00:00