An Israeli official said on Wednesday that Israeli Air Force
can definitely defeat the S-300 missiles recently supplied to Syria.
“The
operational abilities of the air force are such that those (S-300) batteries
really do not constrain the air force’s abilities to act”, Tzachi Hanegbi, the
country’s regional cooperation minister and a non-voting member of its security
cabinet, said.
“You
know that we have stealth fighters, the best planes in the world. These
batteries are not even able to detect them”, Hanegbi added, referring to F-35
Joint Strike Fighters.
Israel
has been conducting air raids against positions it says they belong either to
Iranian forces of Hezbollah group.
“We
have clarified to the Syrians more than once that we will not step back from
our commitment to prevent Iran’s entrenchment in Syria” he added.
“We
were already forced, a few months ago, to destroy Syrian missile batteries, and
I hope they won’t challenge us in the future”, Hanegbi commented in what can be
seen as a padded threat to take action against the newly-supplied S-300 missile
system.
Russia
decided to provide Syria with the advanced S-300 air defense system after
Israeli jets were held responsible for downing the IL-20 plane on September 18.
The
Israeli Defense Forces denied the Russian claims, saying that the IAF did not
hide behind any aircraft and that the Israeli aircraft were in Israeli airspace
at the time of the downing of the Russian plane.
Earlier,
Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said that Israeli warplanes will
carry on its strikes against positions in Syria despite of the fact that the
Syrian Army is now in possession of S-300 air defense system.
Interesting!
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