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The crisis on the Syrian front also seems to be far from over, although it has fallen to the front page and to the news broadcasts. Despite the reassuring noises coming from Jerusalem, something fundamental has changed in the north. Senior officials repeat at every opportunity the mantra that the Israeli air force is free to act in Syrian airspace and will renew its strikes on military targets if necessary. In the meantime, however, at least according to foreign reports, this did not happen. Since the fall of the Russian plane over Latakia by Syrian anti-aircraft missiles during an Israeli air strike on September 17, no new attacks have been reported.
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The S-300 surface-to-air missile systems were delivered with great fanfare to Russian air base Hmeimim in western Syria, Moscow's first concrete response to last month's incident. According to the experts, it will take a few months for the Russians to train the Syrian crews to exploit them autonomously. Even in this case, the command and control policy that will be established between Damascus and Moscow on Syrian soil is unclear. Nevertheless, after marveling at the alleged ability of IAF pilots to escape these air defense systems, it is important to remember that this challenge is not child's play. The Russians are equipped with electronic warfare systems and a host of other methods that can increase the level of difficulty of Israel.
The biggest obstacle, however, is strategic. Vladimir Putin is not satisfied with the continuation of Israeli attacks after the Assad regime regained control of southern Syria and consolidated its grip on the rest of the country. The most recent incident gave the Russian president the tools needed to heighten the pressure on Israel – and perhaps also on Iran and Hezbollah – and to create a new strategic model minimizing power and security. frequency of friction between the parties.
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also mentioned the destination of the attacked Iranian cargo in Latakia – underground missile and precision-guided rocket sites that Hezbollah built in Beirut, according to Israel. After a calculated delay of three days, the Lebanese government invited diplomats and journalists to visit the sites exposed by Netanyahu to refute the allegations of the Israeli leader. Not all participants were convinced. Some of them surely noticed that three days would have given Hezbollah enough time to get rid of the evidence – in theory at least. Western observers did not hide the locations of the sites: near the international airport, schools and hospitals, not to mention a golf course favored by foreigners.
On Wednesday, a person sent text messages to the mobile phones of tens of thousands of South Beirut residents, showing an aerial image of a fourth site that Hezbollah is developing in the heart of their neighborhood. . The inhabitants were warned of the consequences of the proximity of the missiles. Unlike the Gaza Strip, Lebanon does not hear the sound of an impending war, but psychological warfare is undoubtedly conducted in a wide range of channels and frequencies.
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