Following US strikes in Syria, Israel concerned by new Russian weapons

The recent U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria are raising concern among Israelis that Russia could move to arm Damascus with a state-of-the-art missile defense system, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The concerns from Israel came as Russia’s first deputy chief of staff, Sergei Rudskoi, said Moscow would “reconsider” whether to deliver the S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Syria. 

If such a delivery occurs, Israel would immediately attempt to take the missile defense systems out, Israeli analysts and former defense officials told Bloomberg. 

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“If I know the air force well, we have already made proper plans to deal with this threat,” Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli military intelligence official, said. “After you remove the threat, which is basically what will be done, we’re back to square one.”

Israel conducts far more airstrikes in Syria than the U.S., France or the U.K. as part of an effort to deter Iranian influence in the country, Bloomberg noted, adding that the threat of the installation of the Russian missile defense system in Syria and possible Israeli retaliation could serve to upset already-tenuous relations between Jerusalem and Moscow. 

Last week, the U.S., France and Britain launched “precision strikes” on targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma that left dozens of civilians dead.

The allied strikes infuriated Syria and its allies, Russia and Iran. While Moscow has warned that there will be consequences for the strikes, the Kremlin has so far only indicated it may look at arming Syria with the S-300 system.

The system is capable of firing missiles at six different targets at once, and has a reach as far as 120 miles, according to Bloomberg. That could put Israel itself in range of the missile defense system.