The Russian military has claimed that the Syrian air defenses, whose most modern weapon is a three-decades-old Russian-supplied anti-aircraft system, shot down 71 of 103 missiles fired by the US and its allies, the UK and France. As further details began to emerge about the sites targeted by the US-led strikes, Col-Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military said the strikes had not caused any casualties and that Syrian military facilities suffered only minor damage.
Although it was not possible to verify the claims, the most up-to-date system that Moscow has supplied to the Syrian regime is the short-range Pantsir S-1, which has an anti-missile capability. Russia said its advisers had spent the last 18 months completely rebuilding the Syrian air defense system, and said the high number of intercepted rockets spoke to “the high effectiveness of the weaponry in Syria and the excellent training of Syrian servicemen prepared by our specialists”. READ MORE
