U.S. Is Warned Russia Plans Syria Arms Sale

/SB1000142412788732405970457847145300638

  • Information à prendre avec précaution - elle vient de sources officielles israéliennes qui l’aurait transmise à Washington - un accord de vente d’armes serait sur le point d’avoir lieu entre Moscou et Damas pour la vente de missiles sol-air S-300, selon le Wall Street Journal. Précision : ces missiles S-300 capables d’abattre des avions de combat et des missiles guidés étaient les mêmes que ceux que l’Iran avait souhaité acquérir auprès de la Russie :
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324059704578471453006383248.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_MIDDL

    Israel has warned the U.S. that a Russian deal is imminent to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria, weapons that would significantly boost the regime’s ability to stave off intervention in its civil war.

    Et voilà le résumé du problème pour les partisans d’une intervention directe en Syrie :

    According to an analysis by the U.S. military’s Joint Staff, Syrian air defenses are nearly five times more sophisticated than what existed in Libya before the NATO launched its air campaign there in 2011. Syrian air defenses are about 10 times more sophisticated than the system the U.S. and its allies faced in Serbia.

    • http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-syria-defensesbre9470ue-20130508,0,1805117.story

      While the effectiveness of Syria’s aging air force is unclear, most experts believe its air-defense missile system, considerably upgraded after a 2007 Israeli strike on a suspected nuclear site, remains more potent than any the United States has faced since it bombed Serbian forces in 1999.

      “These recent events have not changed our assessment of the sophistication of the Syrian air defense system,” said a senior U.S. official.

      That said, the United States does indeed have the power to wipe out Syria’s air defenses.

      Syria has little or no protection against hard-to-stop weapons in the U.S. arsenal like B-2 stealth bombers or ship- and submarine-launched cruise missiles. Still, it would require a huge assault involving cruise missiles, and jets possibly flying either from aircraft carriers or bases in neighboring countries.

      Israeli jets managed to avoid Syrian defenses twice again in recent days, but the raids were surprise strikes that experts said would have been difficult to defend against. U.S. officials said last week the Israelis did not even enter Syrian airspace in Friday’s bombing, firing missiles instead from the skies over neighboring Lebanon.