| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Iran has used advanced air defense batteries against Israel in Syria | ||
| 2022-03-07 | ||
| [JPost] Since Iran has deployed new air defense batteries in Syria last year, the IAF has had to change how they carry out their strikes Iran has used advanced air-defense batteries against Israeli planes carrying out war-between-war operations in Syria in an attempt to challenge IAF pilots. Tehran first deployed the batteries to Syria last year as Israeli strikes against Iranian weapons and military infrastructure intensified. Since Israel began its war-between-wars campaign (known as mabam in Hebrew) in 2013, the IAF has carried out thousands of strikes to thwart Iranian entrenchment and the smuggling of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon. According to foreign reports, it has also carried out strikes in Iraq and Yemen. The Syrian Arab Army is equipped with a range of older Russian-made surface-to-air missile systems, including the SA-2, SA-3, SA-5, SA-6,-SA-8, SA-11, SA-17, SA-19, SA-22 and the Pantsir 1. Russia has also deployed advanced S-300 and S-400 air-defense batteries but has not given them to the Syrians; instead, they are manned by Russian forces. They have yet to be used against Israeli pilots due in part to the ongoing safety mechanisms in place between Jerusalem and Moscow. The response time of Syrian SAMs has decreased, and more than 1,000 missiles have been fired at IAF jets over the past seven years, but they have been unable to deter their missions.
In 2018, an F-16 crashed in northern Israel after it was struck by an SA-5 missile fired by Syrian forces during an IAF operation. Syrian missiles have also landed in Israel in recent years, including this year, when shrapnel from one missile hit northern Tel Aviv, and another errant interceptor missile landed close to the Dimona nuclear site in the Negev Desert. In July 2020, Ali Abdullah Ayyub, the deputy commander of Syria’s armed forces, and Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, signed an agreement to broaden bilateral military cooperation and to develop a robust air-defense system for Bashar Assad’s regime. "From now on, Iran will strengthen its ties with Syria even more on all levels," Bagheri said at the time. Since their introduction, the IAF has been studying the Iranian batteries, which have architecture unlike that of the Russian batteries.
| ||
| Posted by:Frank G |