Israeli Airstrikes May Have Exposed Syrian Flaw, U.S. Officials Say -- L.A. Times
WASHINGTON — Recent Israeli strikes inside Syria may have exposed weaknesses in the regime’s air defenses and could embolden the U.S. and its allies to take more steps to aid rebels fighting the regime there, said lawmakers on Sunday.
“The Russian-supplied air defense systems are not as good as said,” Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." Leahy, who heads the appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations, said the Israeli defense forces were using American-made F-16 Fighting Falcon jets to launch the missiles against Syrian targets.
“Keep in mind the Israelis are using weapons supplied by us,” Leahy said. “They have enormous prowess with those weapons.”
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Update #1: US senators: Israel’s airstrikes prove Syria’s air defenses not as strong as once thought -- Washington Post/AP
Update #2: Syria's army is not quite what Israelis have been led to believe -- Haaretz
Update #3: Senator Leahy: Syrian air defenses 'not as good as were said' -- Digital Journal
My Comment: Before this weeks Israeli air strikes .... the consensus was that Syria's air defense were formidable. After these Israeli air strikes .... the consensus is now changing. What's my take .... I suspect that these air defense networks are actually very effective .... but the problem (for the Syrian military) is that they are more focused on fighting the Syrian rebels than manning air defense networks for possible Israeli or foreign incursions.
2 comments:
It has been reported that Israel did no enter Syrian airspace in either attack. It seems they used cruise or other missiles for these attacks. While low-altitude defenses may have been exaggerated, that's a different than the defenses -- such as the S3 missiles -- that would be encountered in a no-fly-zone scenario.
Good point ColKurtz
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