Zero Hedge
May 9, 2013
We almost got an entire 24 hour period that did not have news about imminent war rumblings out of Syria. Almost. Late last night WSJ reported about the civil war torn country (in which the rebels may or may not be using chemical weapons, but are backed by both Al Qaeda and the US government) again, this time on a leak by Israel having warned the US that Russians are “imminently” going to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria “that would significantly boost the regime’s ability to stave off intervention in its civil war.” Supposedly this means that Israel would be unable to continue its unimpeded military incursions of Syrian sovereign airspace and blow stuff up at whim just because it feels like it, and for whatever pretext the Israeli defense forces come up with.
Some details on what Syria is said to receive from Moscow via the WSJ:
Israel has warned the U.S. that a Russian deal is imminent to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria, weapons that would significantly boost the regime’s ability to stave off intervention in its civil war.
The package includes six launchers and 144 operational missiles, each with a range of 125 miles, according to the information the Israelis provided. The first shipment could come over the next three months, according to the Israelis’ information, and be concluded by the end of the year. Russia is also expected to send two instruction teams to train Syria’s military in operating the missile system, the Israelis say.
Naturally, there were no official statements on the matter, meaning interpretation of events is up to “objective”, “unconflicted” media spin, the same way the US government is convinced it was the Assad regime using chemical weapons despite the UN’s report claiming just the opposite.
U.S. officials said on Wednesday that they are analyzing the information Israel provided, but wouldn’t comment on whether they believed the sale of S-300 missile batteries was near.
Russian officials didn’t immediately return requests to comment. The Russian Embassy in Washington has said its policy is not to comment on arms sales or transfers between Russia and other countries.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad has been seeking to purchase S-300 missile batteries–which can intercept both manned aircraft and guided missiles–from Moscow going back to the George W. Bush administration, U.S. officials said. Western nations have lobbied President Vladimir Putin’s government not to go
This article originally appeared on : Prison Planet