Posted on 05/16/2013 9:35:54 PM PDT by Seizethecarp
Russia has shipped an advanced antiship cruise missile to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said on Thursday.
Russia has previously provided Yakhont missiles, as the weapon is known, to Syria. But the missiles that were recently delivered are outfitted with an advanced radar that makes them far more accurate, according to American officials who are familiar with classified intelligence reports.
The new missile “contributes to Syria’s overall military capabilities, but specifically it would tend to push Western or allied naval activity further off the coast,” said Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior American intelligence official. He said the delivery was “a signal of the Russian commitment to the Syrian government.”
Unlike Syria’s arsenal of Scud and other longer-range surface-to-surface missiles that the Assad government has fired against opposition forces, the Yakhont anti-ship missile system gives the Syrian military a formidable weapon to counter international forces seeking to reinforce Syrian opposition fighters by imposing a naval embargo, establishing a no-fly zone or carrying out limited airstrikes.
“It enables the regime to deter foreign forces looking to supply the opposition from the sea, or from undertaking a more active role if a no-fly zone or shipping embargo were to be declared at some point,” said Nick Brown, editor in chief of IHS Jane’s International Defense Review. “It’s a real ship killer.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Article by MICHAEL R. GORDON and ERIC SCHMITT
Hrmmmm... Well played Putin.
Ping.
ping
bump
how is that reset coming along
maybe 53% don’t realize what a moron we have in the wh
but putin certainly does
Your statement surely gets a thumbs up from me Freeper. Do have a great upcoming day. I’m ready to log out.
Curious. Seems to me Assad really needs is more help on the ground with the rebels. No naval forces are attacking him, right? Surely he can’t be feeling threatened from hussein?
There might be a problem with antiship cruise missiles being passed from Syria to Hezbollah...which nailed an Israeli ship in 2006, IIRC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-ship_missile
“In 2006, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters fired an AShM at the Israeli corvette INS Hanit, inflicting battle damage, but this warship managed to return to Israel in one piece and under its own power. A second missile in this same salvo struck and sank an Egyptian merchant ship.”
I think the slaughter House will continue.
No, he’s protecting the navy base at Tartus. He doesn’t really cares who wins as long as everyone understands the Russians will defend their new naval base. There’s no way he would give Assad anti-ship missiles if he was’t pretty confident that even if Assad loses, the winners wouldn’t use them against the Russians.
Assad or the Muslim Brotherhood/AlQaeda? Assad the better alternative.
good job Putin — let’s hope that this sinks a Saudi or Qatari ship
No Wag the Dog for You, Barack.
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