Syria to receive advanced Russian air defense: report

Source : Al Akhbar English

Syria has already began payments for a $900 million purchase of an advanced air defense system from Russia and an initial delivery was due within three months, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday citing US officials.

Israel has asked Russia not to sell Syria the S-300, which could help President Bashar al-Assad fend off foreign military intervention, Israeli officials said on Thursday.

"We have raised objections to this (sale) with the Russians, and the Americans have too," an Israeli official told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow or Damascus.

The S-300 is designed to shoot down planes and missiles at 200 kilometer ranges. It would enhance Syria's current Russian-supplied defenses, which did not deter Israel from launching devastating air strikes around Damascus last weekend.

In 2010, Russia backed out of a tentative S-300 sale to Iran that had been in the works for years. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev cited UN sanctions imposed that year over Iran's defiance of international demands to curb its nuclear program.

Israel and the United States, which threaten military attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities if diplomatic alternatives fail, had lobbied Moscow to drop the deal with Tehran.

Israel reportedly attacked on Syrian soil twice over the weekend, in a move that prompted demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies and UN headquarters across the region.

On Saturday, Israel carried out an air strike into Syria, supposedly targeting a shipment of missiles bound for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

The target of Friday's raid was not a Syrian chemical weapons facility, a regional security source earlier told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

A US official, who also declined to be identified, had told Reuters on Friday that the target was apparently a building.

The attack took place after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved it in a secret meeting on Thursday night, the security source said.

On Sunday, Israel struck a military facility overnight outside Damascus.

The official SANA news agency said Israel was responsible for the attack on the Jamraya military research center in the Eastern Ghouta region.

The attacks came as Israeli fighter jets flew over the Lebanese capital Beirut repeatedly the week prior.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

Turkey confiscates suspected "military materials" in Syrian plane

Source : Xinhua

ANKARA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey seized Wednesday suspicious cargo on board a Syrian civilian plane after intercepting the aircraft which was flying on the way from Moscow to Damascus.

"Military materials" were detected during the investigation, a Turkish official told Xinhua. The plane is waiting for Turkish Foreign Ministry's approval to take off again.

There were "objectionable" materials aboard, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters during his visit to Athens.

"We keep the materials for examination and further operations," Davutoglu added.

The Syrian passenger plane was forced to land in the Turkish capital of Ankara earlier on Wednesday over intelligence of "non- civilian cargo," Davutoglu said earlier in a televised interview.

The Damascus-bound plane had given "lacking notification" or " misinformation" about its cargo, Davutoglu said a few hours after the plane was forced by two F-16 warplanes to land at Esenboga Airport in Ankara.

Turkey scrambled F-16 fighter jets after the Airbus A-320 type plane, which took off from Moscow, entered into Turkey's airspace, and forced it to land in Ankara, according to earlier report.

Turkey is determined to stop any transfer of weapons to Syrian government through its territory, Davutoglu noted.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry has also instructed Turkish aviation companies to stay away from Syrian airspace and use other routes, the minister said, citing security threat in Syria