Russia Plans to Reopen S-300 Anti-aircraft Missile Systems Sales to Syria

Russia plans to reopen sale of S-300 Anti-aircraft Missile defence systems to the Assad regime following the unilateral action of the US, France and the UK in launching airstrikes on Syria.

“A few years ago, given the urgent request of some of our Western partners, we refused to supply the Anti-aircraft Missiles (AAMs) S-300 to Syria. In view of what has happened, we consider it possible to return to the consideration of this issue-and not only against Syria, but also others,” General-Colonel Sergei, head of the chief operating department of the Russian Armed forces said during a press briefing on the situation in Syria in Moscow Saturday.

“This reality of America's aggression demonstrates that there is no interest in the United States in the objectivity of the investigation and the desire to breach the process of peaceful settlement in Syria to stabilize the situation in the Middle East and have nothing to do with its stated objectives in the fight against international terrorism,” Sergei said.

Strikes were made on the day when the specialized mission to investigate the incident must start in a city where the use of the Phantom chemical weapon occurred, he said.

Russia had put off a deal to sell six S-300 batteries to Bashar Assad’s regime after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in May 2013.

Netanyahu is said to have warned Putin that the sale of S-300 to Assad would invariably push the Middle-East into war and it had no relevance to Syria’s civil-war battles.