Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday published a video of the delivery of S-300 missile defense systems to Syria, in a move that is expected to inflame tensions in the region further.
Moscow’s deployment of the air-defense system in the country has been a point of contention with Israel and the US, but Israeli officials played down the capabilities of the missiles.
Russia confirmed the delivery of the missiles via Twitter:
Russian Defence Ministry shares first photos and video footage of the Russian S-300 air defence systems arriving in #Syria. Its purpose is to help keep Syrian skies safe pic.twitter.com/JGSU5TKcVi
— Russia in RSA 🇷🇺 (@EmbassyofRussia) October 3, 2018
Israel responded that the missile system was obsolete in its ability to repel strikes from F-35 stealth fighters.
“The operational abilities of the air force are such that those [S-300] batteries really do not constrain the air force’s abilities to act,” a top Israeli defense official said, according to a report in Channel News Asia.
Referring to the fifth-generation fighter jets, the official said: “You know that we have stealth fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries are not even able to detect them.”