Explaining the reason why Syria's S-300 is immobile before Israel
The reason why the Syrian Army's state-of-the-art S-300PM air defense missile batteries remain motionless is a matter of great concern.
On January 20 and 21, 2019, the Israeli Air Force launched fierce attacks on positions inside Syrian territory to destroy Iranian military bases as well as retaliate against the Syrian government army's firing of multiple rocket launchers into their territory.
The results of the airstrikes conducted by Israeli fighter jets were significant when even the Russian media had to admit that up to 10 Syrian soldiers were killed or injured, many infrastructures were destroyed, and especially up to 2 Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile-gun complexes were destroyed.
At times like this, the question of where the Syrian S-300 was and why it was not protecting targets when Israeli fighter jets attacked is repeatedly asked, especially when a month ago the Russian training team was withdrawn to the country so that Syrian soldiers could independently operate the weapons.
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| Syria's S-300PM long-range air defense missile system remained "invisible" when Israeli fighter jets attacked. |
It should be noted that there have been many hypotheses put forward to explain why the Syrian S-300 remains "invisible", one of which is that the Syrian crew avoided fighting because they were afraid they would become the target of the Harop suicide drone like the Pantsir-S1.
There are even other opinions that the real cause is that the S-300's warning and fire control radars were "blinded" by Israeli electronic warfare, making them unable to recognize threats from long distances.
Faced with the continuous release of unfavorable information about its weapons, the agency responsible for the Kommersant newspaper sent an explanation to the international media and defended the reputation of the S-300.
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| The crew operating the Syrian S-300 air defense system is said to have not passed all the tests. |
According to an official report by Kommersant, the main reason why the state-of-the-art S-300PM system has not yet entered combat is because Syrian soldiers have not yet passed the training exercises given by Russian experts.
The Russian newspaper also reported that it may not be until March 2019 that Syria's first S-300PM system will reach combat readiness and it will be deployed to protect the T4 military airport.
Currently, Russia still maintains its stance of non-intervention as long as the Israeli Air Force does not harm its soldiers.
The information from Kommersant also raised many questions when the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman had previously confirmed that the training process for Syrian soldiers to master the S-300 system was only 3 months, which coincided with the time when Russia withdrew its experts.
