Russia sends new antiaircraft defense to Syria after a deadly takeoff

Russia has pledged to strengthen Syria's air and missile defenses in the context of strong tensions with US allies in the region, particularly Israel.

The deployment of the Russian-made S-300 air-to-air missile will take place in two weeks, Moscow said on Monday after the controversial fall of a Russian plane into the Syrian skies earlier this month. The Russian I-20 crashed last week, killing the 15 soldiers on board and the Kremlin accused Israel of being responsible, despite a relatively good record of the agreement between the two armies. Tel Aviv refuted the allegations, and an Israeli official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Moscow had received reports that "unsafe Syrian anti-aircraft fire was the direct cause."

"The command posts of the Syrian air defense forces and units will be equipped with automated control systems only provided to the Russian armed forces," said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. ensure "centralized control of all Syrian air defense forces and resources, monitor the situation in the air and facilitate the issuance of orders".

An Iranian military truck transports parts of an S-300 air defense missile system during a parade on the occasion of the annual army day on April 18 in Tehran. Russia will now provide the system to Syria within two weeks, the defense ministry said. Atta Kenare / AFP / Getty Images

"More importantly, we will ensure the identification of all Russian planes by Syrian air defense systems," said Shoigu. The Russian government seems to have accepted that a Syrian missile struck the Russian jet, for the accident.

Shoigu said Moscow's decision to provide Damascus with the upgrade – which has not been the case since 2013 – would "cool hopes" and prevent poorly designed actions. "

"The S-300 is capable of intercepting air assault weapons more than 250 kilometers away and simultaneously touching several air targets," said Shoigu. The system is currently deployed on Russian military installations in Syria. military implementing older versions of the kit.

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Russia has accused Israeli planes of hiding from Syrian army fire behind the Russian jet, causing the Syrian missile on the Il-20. The Israeli Ministry of Defense has repeatedly denied this, insisting that the troops use all the lines of communication agreed to prevent the incident.

"The complete, precise and factual details are known to the professionals who treat [with the incident] in the Russian army, and they clearly show that the deconfliction mechanism was operated on schedule, as was the case in the last two and a half years, "a statement from the Ministry to the Haaretz newspaper said. "The Israeli Air Force did not hide behind any aircraft and Israeli planes were in Israeli airspace [missiles] hit the Russian plane, "the statement read.