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Israel Believes Syria Strikes Took Out Nearly Half of Assad’s Air Defenses
It's quite possible the Kremlin, Tehran, and Damascus are considering a more regional war-theater beyond Syria.
Related:Likely Syrian miscalculation of Israeli commitment to “red lines” over Iranian expansionism raises war risks
NOTE: This thread is not about I/P issues. Please remain on-topic.
By Amos Harel
Feb 13, 2018
Israeli security forces examine the remains of an F-16 Israeli jet near the village of Harduf, Israel on February 10.
In Saturday’s exchange of fire Syria scored a rare success, downing an Israeli F-16 fighter jet with an antiaircraft missile, apparently taking advantage of a vulnerability in the way the crew flew the jet. Israel however destroyed nearly half of President Bashar Assad’s air defenses, according to military estimates. In Saturday’s exchange of fire Syria scored a rare success, downing an Israeli F-16 fighter jet with an antiaircraft missile, apparently taking advantage of a vulnerability in the way the crew flew the jet. Israel however destroyed nearly half of President Bashar Assad’s air defenses, according to military estimates. Syria was able to down the Israeli plane because it was flying too high. That, at least, is the initial assessment based on an Israel Air Force investigation of the incident.
The F-16 was one of eight of the same model that took part in an attack on an Iranian command trailer at the T4 base near the city of Palmyra, deep inside Syria. It was from that trailer that members of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched the drone that penetrated Israeli airspace on Saturday, and which was intercepted over the Beit She’an Valley. Israeli army sources said Israel had tracked the aircraft in the course of its entire flight from the Palmyra area, through northern Jordan until it crossed into Israel. From the initial investigation it appears that at least one of the Israeli jets remained at high altitude, apparently to verify that the missiles that were fired at the Iranian trailer actually hit it. At that point, Syria’s aerial defense system fired an unusually large number of missiles, more than 20, of at least two types – long-range SA-5s and shorter-range SA-17s. The volley of missiles was clearly visible to Israelis in the north and even in the center of the country.
It's quite possible the Kremlin, Tehran, and Damascus are considering a more regional war-theater beyond Syria.
Related:Likely Syrian miscalculation of Israeli commitment to “red lines” over Iranian expansionism raises war risks
NOTE: This thread is not about I/P issues. Please remain on-topic.
