Sputnik / Kirill Kallinikov
Written by The Saker; Originally appeared at The Unz Review
We now know a little more about which version of the S-300 family the Russians have delivered to the Syrians: the Russians have converted a number of S-300PM and S-300P2 systems to the export version S-300PMU-2 “Favorit”which, by the way, is also the version Russia delivered to the Iranians and to the Chinese. This system uses the 48N6E2 missile and has an official range of 195km. I will skip the rest of the technical details and just say that this is a recent modification with excellent capabilities, so all the rumors about Russia delivering some antiquated version of the S-300 are now proven false (as usual). In fact, this is not the first time that the Russians have delivered an “Israeli-restraining” air defense system: in 1983 the USSR delivered a number of S-200VE “Vega-E” (SA-5b) air defense systems to Syria which significantly limited Israeli operations over and even around (AWACS) Syria.
Combined with the EW systems also delivered by Russia, these air defense systems clearly are having an impact on US and Israeli operations. And while the Americans are admitting that this is a problem for them, the Israelis, as usual, have both complained about this delivery and boasted that they did not care at all. adding that they would continue to bomb Syria whenever they feel the need. The Israelis have even declared that they would be willing to kill Russian crews if their aircraft are shot at. Except, of course, that so far the Israelis have stayed out of the Syrian skies (keep in mind that according to Israeli sources in 2017 the IDF attacked Syria over 200 times, roughly one attack every 2nd day!).
This time around, not only are the Israelis facing a much more competent air defense system, this system is also highly mobile and therefore much harder to locate, which will greatly complicate future attacks. Furthermore, since one S-300PMU2 battalion can track 300 targets (and engage 36 with 72 missiles simultaneously) at a very long range, the Syrians will now improve their early warning capabilities tremendously, which will make it much harder for the Israelis to successfully conduct surprise attacks against Syria.
Sooner or later, however, we can be pretty confident that both the Israelis and the US will have to try to strike Syria again, if only for PR purposes. In fact, this should not be too difficult for them, here is why:
First, and contrary to what is often claimed, there are not enough S-300/S-400’s in Syria to indeed “lock” all of the Syrian airspace. Yes, the Russians did create a de-facto no-fly zone over Syria, but not one which could withstand a large and determined attack. What the combined Russian and Syrian forces have done so far is to deny some specific segments of the airspace above and around Syria to the AngloZionist aggressors. This means that they can protect some specific, high-value targets. However, as soon as the US/Israelis get a feel for what has been deployed and where, and how this entire integrated air defense network works, they will be able to plan strikes which, while not terribly effective, will be presented by the propaganda machine as a major success for the AngloZionists.
Second, air defense operations are always a game of numbers. Even if you assume that each of the air defense missile has a probability of a kill of 1 (meaning that every air defense missile fired will destroy one incoming missile), you still cannot shoot down more missiles than what your own stores allow you to fire. The US/NATO/CENTCOM can, if needed, engage many more missiles in a saturation attack than the Russians have available for defense. This is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
Third, the US/NATO/CENTCOM/IDF all have advanced EW capabilities which will allow them to try to disrupt the Russian fire and reconnaissance capabilities, especially if low RCS aircraft (such as the F-22, F-35, B-1B, etc.) are used in the attacks. Low-RCS aircraft (and missiles) don’t have to operate alone and, in reality, they are often engaged with the support of a determined EW effort.
Finally, the Empire also has long-range weapons which could be used to strike Syria (such as the AGM-158 JASSM low-RCS standoff air-launched cruise missile), especially during a combined electronic warfare and standoff antiradiation missile attack.
So, all the AngloZionists really need to do is to be very careful in their choice of paths of approach and choice of targets, use low-RCS aircraft and missiles under the cover of a robust EW engagement and then use a large enough number of missiles to give the appearance that the Empire has defeated the Russian and Syrian air defenses.
Judging by their past attacks against Syria, the US and the Israelis are far more concerned with the need to appearvery powerful, effective and quasi-invulnerable than by actually achieving some meaningful military objective. Of course, this need to appear invulnerable also means that the AngloZionists really cannot afford to have one of their aircraft shot down, hence their current reluctance to test out the Syrian air defense capabilities.
Sooner or later, however, the Israelis will have to try to “defeat the S-300” as they would put it.
The problem for the Israelis is that they don’t really have any good options. The problem is not so much a technological one as it is a political one.
Let’s assume that the Israelis conduct a successful strike against a meaningful target (if their attack is symbolic, the Russians and Syrians can just limit their reply to the usual protests and denunciations, but take no real action). What would Russia do? Well, the Russians (Shoigu specifically) have already indicated that, if needed, they would increase the number of S-300 batteries (and required support systems) delivered to Syria. Thus, the main effect of a successful attack on Syria will be to make subsequent attacks even harder to plan and execute. Would that really be a desirable outcome for the Israelis? I don’t think so.
If each successful Israeli strike makes each subsequent strike even harder while increasing the danger for Israeli aircraft, what would be the point of such attacks? Are there any truly high-value targets in Syria whose destruction by the IDF would justify triggering a further degradation of the situation in Syria? Conversely, if you were Syrian (or Iranian), would you not want the Israelis to strike Syria (or even S-300 batteries) hard enough to force the Russians to deliver even more air defense systems (not necessarily S-300s by the way!)?
Just as with the case of Hezbollah in Lebanon (which the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 helped create), and the coming to power of Hassan Nasrallah at the head of Hezbollah (which the murder of Abbas al Moussawi by the Israelis in 1992 propelled to the position of Secretary General of the organization), the Israelis are re-discovering again and again the truism: while simple, brute force violence does appear to be effective in the short term, in the mid to long-term it always fails unless backed by meaningful political measures. The big axiomatic truth which the Israelis still are stubbornly refusing to recognize is that all true security is always collective (something the Russians have been repeating for years now). In the case of Syria, Israel would be much, much better off negotiating some kind of deal with the Russians, the Iranians and the Syrians (even an unofficial one!) than trying to prevail by blowing up targets in Syria.
I would even argue that with the Trump presidency now dramatically increasing the rate of collapse of the AngloZionist Empire the Israelis need to start making plans to involve other actors in their regional policy. The truth is that the US is not in a position anymore to remain a key player in Middle-Eastern politics and that decades of abject submission to the Likudnik agenda have irreparably damaged the US credibility and influence in the Middle-East (and the rest of the world).
I would compare the delivery of S-300PMU-2 “Favorit” batteries to Syria to a chess opening or an irreversible move like castling: it does not, by itself, decide the outcome of the game, but it does create a baseline environment in which both players will need to operate. For the Russians, the next step is quite obvious: to continue to deliver all types of air defense systems to the Syrians (especially more Pantsirs) with the goal of eventually being able to protect the entire Syrian airspace from any attacks by the US or Israel. The main elements of a multi-layered air defense network are already deployed, Syria now only needs larger numbers. I very much hope that Russia will provide them.
Very nice text!
a multi layered integrated air defense network also has to include fighter interceptors able to stay on CAP stations all day and night, awacs planes to direct them, other fighters on runway alert ready to augment the defensive capabilities in case an attack is detected.
the current situation in Syria simply does not allow to reach these levels of sophistication, which would make the airspace impenetrable for zionist regime changing air forces.
on the other side, the current situation is probably around the highest levels at which the airspace can be defended.
all the medias attention seems to be pointed at the S300s, while the Ru DefMin stated another improvement that potentially is even more important than the SAMs themselves – the deployment of electronic war assets against zionist air platform and weapons.
That would absolutely force an attacker to enter Syrian airspace (something Israel has avoided like hell since years) and fly very close to its targets to hit them with LGBs or weapons with other guidance systems – hence exposing them to the full potential of the Syrian defences.
Taking GPS weapons out of the scenario raises the bar noteworthy. When Liuebermann stated that Israel has kept striking Syria (which has been met with skepticism even by MsM) in these weeks, it’s also possible that they may have tried some strike using the usual configuration from Lebanon, and learned that it doesn’t work anymore.
Entering or appoaching Syrian airspace is allready very risky right now since Russia provided Syria with equipment that blocks radiocommunication, GPS contact and the plane’s radar systems. So they would enter deaf and blind the theater. Such a behaviour equals suicide.
“””Third, the US/NATO/CENTCOM/IDF all have advanced EW capabilities which will allow them to try to disrupt the Russian fire and reconnaissance capabilities, especially if low RCS aircraft (such as the F-22, F-35, B-1B, etc.) are used in the attacks. Low-RCS aircraft (and missiles) don’t have to operate alone and, in reality, they are often engaged with the support of a determined EW effort.”””
1. US/NATO all have advanced EW capabilities…bla, bla,. What is “advanced” supposed to mean? How were these “advanced” capabilities developed since the advent of a uniloplar world, when emphasis was on beating third world countries and counterinsurgency?
2. Low RCS aircraft are useless and very visible to Russian multiple radars, and their payload is meaningless for a large scale attack.
Good article
“””Second, air defense operations are always a game of numbers. Even if you assume that each of the air defense missile has a probability of a kill of 1 (meaning that every air defense missile fired will destroy one incoming missile), you still cannot shoot down more missiles than what your own stores allow you to fire. “””
That is a feeble excuse since the S300 will be primarily used against high value targets like aircraft or highly specialized drones and not against cruise missiles, glide bombs and anti radiation missiles. There are Pantsir, Tor and an array of Soviet era of short range surface to air missiles that can serve as point defenses. 50 Pantsir x 12 missiles = 600 ready to fire missiles. 50 Tor older version x 8 missiles = 400 ready to fire missiles. 50 Tor new version x 16 missiles = 800 ready to fire missiles.
I left out the Buk M2, S200, and an array of short range mobile air defenses, so the question is, how many aircraft does the Zio coalition plan to deploy, and how many cruise missiles are they ready to fire before they get their butts kicked out?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3e3324f5aa6c1367e0d28c18532872685439c8aaacc18aef81abec6fcf399411.png “The US/NATO/CENTCOM can, if needed, engage many more missiles in a saturation attack than the Russians have available for defense.”
You may be wrong (as usual)
:)
Troll
– Russia expanding Middle East footprint with Egypt bases –
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2017/12/15/russia-expanding-middle-east-footprint-with-egypt-bases
And Libya
Hopefully Yemen soon as the USSR had a historical relationship with the Yemeni people and army, especially the Shia majority of North Yemen.
There are already efforts and note That South Yemen was closer and had higher priority. I can provide citations but having browser problems at moment. You may be surprised by Russian stance. Will get links when my browsers inner child issues resolve
Thanks. Indeed South Yemen was a socialist Arab republic and received aid and weapons from USSR. Many officers of the Yemeni military were trained in Soviet Union.
The Chinese and Russians should step into Libya and bring the waring sides to a peace agreement and stabilize the place. Imagine, with Libya’s awesome geographical location how it could play an integral, crucial part of China’s OBR Maritime/Silk Roads.
Plus Libya has some of the best, easiest to refine and cheapest to extract oil in the world. The Light Sweet Crude. Libya also has the largest natural gas reserve in Africa and third after Iran, Russia, then Libya.
“The US/NATO/CENTCOM can, if needed, engage many more missiles in a saturation attack than the Russians have available for defense.”
That’s assuming that the launch platforms aren’t taken out. Which is an option that the Russians have stated they’l use on an as needed basis.
US/NATO can use their “force by quantity” with many types of weapons and no one would have a chance against it. US new secret military classified plasma nano superprecision space guided lightspeed multi- purpose blue light laser cannon could also take out all of Syrian airdefences in a split second.
Are you one of those so called military experts Have your served in the military or you just one of the couch warriors playing war games. Also do you have a degree in aeronautical engineering.
Gottit! Fire photon torpedoes at the Klingons and then warp nine!
” US new secret military classified plasma nano superprecision space guided lightspeed multi- purpose blue light laser cannon could also take out all of Syrian airdefences in a split second. ”
Recently-leaked classified image of weapon tests :
https://media.giphy.com/media/xhSExLU4AL2Ss/giphy.gif
Brilliant , lmao.
Abd how did you get a hold of this ‘ classified ‘ info?
Been watching the Sci-Fi Channel, Star Trek/Deep Space Nine have you?
I will defend Saker as your claim is not correct – I have criticized Saker articles but also praised others, so no, it is not usual, it happens though since we all make mistakes.
Saker also gets some of the best comment threads going and that is a good thing.
I am working on an analysis paper on Russia/Israeli relationship and its downfall (finishing in a few more days). What I have found is some solid support for positions taken by Saker that I criticized and so I was mistaken. I still disagree with Saker on a number of points but Saker has gained much respect from me.
in fact if Russia can jam GPS based weapons, which is established, they can launch thousands of missiles with none of them hitting anything.
All the Poseidon patrols that happened since a few years in the area seem to indicate the inability on US and co. to overcome such defensive measures.
Saker has always put the “saturation attack” meme in his articles, but there’s nothing sure about it, certainly not the degree of confidence that author puts in it.
when using anti-air defense, tactics are important; in Serbia, then, it is used very successfully, one system does not scan the sky while the other cares, as soon as it first detects the target, it acts, but also sends it to the other, and the other waiting in the ambush to return the target to the first, and then it fires for a short time and works …. very effectively. Israel will probably scan the s300 for a long time, and then act, but they will never know where those cute and wait in ambush
Russians are not naive, these S-300 are totally recalibrated and are being integrated into a real time fibre optic AD system stretching all the way to Iran and the Caspian. The S-300 are beefed up by new batteries of PantsirS1, Buk M3E and new TorM2 systems. The frequencies and guidance systems on the new Russian SAM systems have been upgraded and modified to beat US and NATO electronic jamming and warfare. The Zionist scum are more of a hyped up myth than reality and they know it. They are no match against Russian technology. If they kill any more Russians, they will find out the real consequences. Why do think the Zionist parasites have stayed off Syrian and Lebanese airspace for almost 2 months now? Do you think the Iranians have been sleeping in the meantime?
Where are the brave pirates that bomb unarmed civilians in GAZA,on leave?
Unfortunately the range of Syrian S 300 is not big enough to cover Gaza aswell. In a future conflict Hezbolllah and israel however, Lebanon will be void of airattacks
Correct, the current S-300 battery at Sassa ridge covers air space as far as Ashdod in Occupied Palestine. As the downing of the Zionist F-16I even by a relatively older SA-2 a few months ago showed, it even shut down Ben Gurion airport for 6 hours after Zionists panicked and started shooting wildly. S-300 can shut down all Zionist airports and airbases from Ashdod to Metulla. In any future conflict, if Lebanese or Syrian cities are hit, Hezbollah will return the favor ten fold with longer range precision missiles.
I thought so too but a retired Russian colonel says the following:
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/443559-s300-israel-attack-syria/
According to your link the range of the S-300 is 250kms, that should cover almost all of Palestine. People forget that the Zionist entity squatting in Palestine is barely 80kms wide from Occupied Golan to Haifa. There is also a lot of smokescreen from all sides on the capability of the S-300 which has not faced a combat test yet. We shall find out when and if it used. Thanks though, your link has good info.
According to Michael Khodarenok the follwing is the true situation: “In mass media, they often say that the S-300 currently has a max range of 250km (155 miles). That means that two battalions of this system can effectively cover nearly half of Syria. In principle,it is possible. However a bit of clarification is certainly necessary. Effective engagement range of any air defense missile system depends on the altitude of a target, which is explained by the basic laws of the radio-wave propagation and the fact that the Earth is not flat. For example, the max range for the S-300PM-2 is indeed 250km, but it will only be able to intercept a target that far if it flies at an altitude of around 12 to 15km (7 to 10 miles). In modern military context, combat aviation rarely operates at such a high altitude. So, if the target travels at about 100m (328 feet) then the engagement range of the S-300 system drops to 25km, and it may get even worse – complex landscape configuration can cut it down to 14-16km. The key idea here is that one single set of S-300 air defense missile battalions at no point should be seen as a silver-bullet that will enable Syria to shoot down practically any incoming threat. It should be noted though that even most advanced weapons turn into a pile of metal scrap when handled by ill-trained and unqualified crews.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/443559-s300-israel-attack-syria/
Radio waves don’t follow the surface of the earth. They go in a straight line. That fact explains that the S300 can’t look behind the horizon on the level of the surface of the earth or close to it. At 250 km distance the S300 is able to discern an object between 12- 15 km hight of the surface of the earth.
pilots
Well written article by The Saker. Good points brought out.
interesting analysis. Lets hope that Soigu is strong enough !!
Oh he is, he is. Netanyahoo knows not to test Shoigu.
Shoigu is a Tuvan or native Siberian and these indigenous people are not enamored with racist Jews going back to the Bolshevik revolution who targeted the “backward minorities” of Russia. Shoigu is very popular in Russia and will make a good president. A lot of Muslims and other ethnic generals are now climbing the Russian military hierarchy and they have seen Jew evil racism first hand. Most Russian units in Syria have a large Muslim component and can be seen praying in Syrian mosques on Fridays. If the Zionists kill any more Russians, Putin or no Putin it would be hard to control Russian anger.
Shoigu is definitely much better option than Medvedev. Although he doesn’t have Putin’s calm and tact.
Well, it looks like it works so far.
Russia will eventually go to war with US in Syria. This is why.. http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/israel/greater_israel.shtml
As a chessmove, this was not casteling, this was queening a pawn… (Those PMU2’s were pesants back home, now, they control the board.)
Mig-29s https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/BAF_MiG-29s_in_flight_Garchev.png
Mig-31s https://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Mig-31-Russian-Air-Force.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/684738102ef51b84a8e1625b9034c3c3a68568ecbc6eafaba5c9bb9c1029d843.png
– Mikoyan MiG-31 –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan_MiG-31
Mig – 31BM’s are the ones that are to launch the ‘ standoff ‘ new hypersonic missiles Russia has just developed. They are Carrier Strike Group killers.
If NATO is going to launch another false flag, or escalate an air campaign against Syria east of the river with strikes from outside Syria. They’l think twice about it if Syria has the ability to shut down the launch platforms.
Syria has but to change the rules of engagement (RoE) , for every time Israel strikes, Syria returns fire with medium and long range Ballistic missiles. Preferably on Israeli air force bases and storage facilities. Make them pay.
Israel’s days are numbered anyways.
They did hit the IDF in the occupied Golan, and that’s still an option. Up to this point avoiding unnecessary escalation has been the policy. They’ve backed the Jews out of Syrian airspace and now shut down Jew attacks entirely with minimum damage inflicted by the Jews on Syria. As compared to the massive damage that the Jews did to Lebanon.
What they need to do is to win the war first. And that requires getting NATO aircraft out of Syrian skies east of the river that are hitting the Syrian government coalition with air strikes as they try to expand their foot print there. Once the war is won. Clearing the IDF out of the occupied territories is better done with a collaborative effort with a lot of burden sharing so that it’s Israel against many, not Israel against Syria.
Syria has a fleet of 20 late model Mig-29SMTs, with 12 more Mig-29s on order, that could possibly be filled with a land based version of the Mig-29K 4++ generation model. And there are open source reports 6 Mig-31s are also on order. If these orders are completed. It will double the size of Syria’s advance fighter capability. This added to the Russian contingent in Syria would provide the enabling capability to engage NATO aircraft in deterrent operations over Al-Tanf and east of the river to provide ground cover for Syrian government coalition advances in these areas without being subjected to air strikes of the types previously used.
The best solution is for Turkey, Iraq and Jordan to scale back NATO access to Syria to remove US support for the partition project. Absent that, providing air cover for ground forces restoring Syrian government administration in illegally occupied areas is necessary.
Interesting. I however am very curious to know what will be the continuation. With that I point to the situation when an armed conflict breaks out again between Hezbollah and the israelis. I dont doubt that Syria will give and will be able for aircover to Hezbollah. The range of the S300 however is limited. It doesn’t cover occupied Palestine completely. I am very curious to that outcome.
I liked the analysis. I differ on a couple of points presented in the beginning. However, by the end of the article, I am pretty much in agreement. Mr. Jeffery’s comment about allowing Israel to strike Hez, confirm what the article is talking about.
A massive strike could very well cause a massive retaliation. Israel and the US cannot afford that one at all. They are stuck. The article didn’t even mention a counter strike possibility, which I think is very much on the table. Russia saw quite clearly what Israel is thinking and knows exactly what to do with those guyz. I wish a good weekend to all.
This article is full of crap!
Starts off telling us how Syria’s defences have been improved, but it’s good news for Israel cos when it comes to an all out war, the US and its bum chums will have the have upper hand..
wtf..
I understand your point but seems more devils advocate and I am fine with that
Do you swallow everything your Iranian mullah unzips on a Friday.
Mr. Saker fanatically refused to understand, that Khazars are of Khazarian origin. It is total joke. Without knowledge of Khazaria Empire history and consequences of its fall, it is impossible to understand events of 20th and 21th Century. When these garden and kindergarten writers understand, that Khazars have no right to murder indigenous Semitic people? And B-1B has no low RCS.
You may be correct, but to educate people, it must done in steps. First, the sleepwalking neeed to start questioning the mainstream narrative. That is a monumental task on its own. Then baby steps to break down deeply embedded belief system. It is like cult de-programming – do you think a cult member will listen to you because you point out it is a cult.
You are right. And why is it that most people don’t even know the Kingdom of Khazaria even existed. And the writers that do, never say anything about the Talmudic, Rabbinical Jewish Khazar race, that happen to be in control of the western world.
I repost my reply to Evald because I think it is important.
I will defend Saker as your claim is not correct – I have criticized Saker articles but also praised others, so no, it is not usual, it happens though since we all make mistakes.
Saker also gets some of the best comment threads going and that is a good thing.
I am working on an analysis paper on Russia/Israeli relationship and its downfall (finishing in a few more days). What I have found is some solid support for positions taken by Saker that I criticized and so I was mistaken. I still disagree with Saker on a number of points but Saker has gained much respect from me.
I would look at Russian nuclear doctrine for nuking Israel in response to the Jews nuking their neighbors engaged in clearing the IDF out of the occupied territories as part of a UN mandated Palestinian protection force that Russia may be part of along with Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran and others.
The IDF would be out manned and outgunned both conventionally and nuclear. As long as the UN mandate is limited to the occupied territories. The US and NATO have no justification for interference. International law would allow attacks on Israel in response to attacks originating in Israel.
Russian nuclear doctrine first use only if Russia faces destruction. But if Israel nukes neighbors, good question. As for USA having no justification, has not stopped them so far in doing whatever they please.
“Its current military strategy, published in December 2014, says that Russia “shall reserve for itself the right to employ nuclear weapons in response to the use against it and/or its allies of nuclear and other kinds of weapons of mass destruction, as well as in the case of aggression against the Russian Federation with use of conventional weapons when the state’s very existence has been threatened””
– Russian nuclear forces, 2018 –
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00963402.2018.1462912
What will the US do is the million dollar question. You can’t go by precedent, which is that the US wouldn’t get directly involved, because Trump is a wild card. The US has no mutual defense agreement with Israel, and is unlikely to get involved in one. So the US has no treaty obligation to get involved, and even if it did, Palestine isn’t Israel. The Europeans are unlikely to get involved, and neither is anyone else.
For a Palestinian protection force to receive a UN mandate, the US veto would have to be overridden using UNGA 377A resolution proceedings of the type used successfully already. Which can probably be done for a protection force as well. At that point, it’s up to Israel’s neighbors to put it together if they can.
Will Jordan support it with multinational basing for clearing operations? Will the Russians support it with over watch and nuclear weapons? Will Palestine’s neighbors support it with conventional forces to provide overwhelming superiority to the IDF? Will the coalition be able to reach deconfliction agreements with the US on non intervention? Will the Egyptians provide training and equipment to stand up Palestinian infantry and armor to do most of the combat? How will the Palestinians perform against the IDF, will they be able to prevail? How much combat will the coalition members have to get involved in? These are all issues that need to be addressed and resolved for the mission to be successful.
Jordan Army http://www.armaholic.com/datas/users/mis-jordanian-royal-army-v03-4_4.jpg
No need to use nuclear weapons on Israel, as they maybe batshit crazy, they would never use them their selves.
Occupied Palestine can be liberated by conventional means , and I will venture to say quite easily too. the Isreali air force and army are paper tigers. They fully hide behind the U.S., Britain and France. The three countries that saved them in 67′ and 73′. But no more. Iran has built up an army , an axis of resistance that is preparing to go in and give Israel a severe beating.
Israel was close to using them in 73 according to declassified documents and investigative reports. There is no need to use them absent an Israeli first strike. But that can’t be ruled out, and the best way to deter it is to be prepared to respond to it by disarming and disbanding the IDF and government of Israel and replace it with a unified Palestine.
Israel was close to using them in 73 according to declassified documents and investigative reports. There is no need to use them absent an Israeli first strike. But that can’t be ruled out, and the best way to deter it is to be prepared to respond to it by disarming and disbanding the IDF and government of Israel and replace it with a unified Palestine.
“During the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Israel came close to making a nuclear preemptive strike when it seemed to be facing defeat at the hands of Syrian armor, according to a half dozen former U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials familiar with the still-classified incident. …
The initial targets — these officials said — included the Syrian and Eygptian military headquarters, which were situated near Damascus and Cairo, respectively. …
Somehow, an agent in place in Israel alerted the United States of the arming of the Jerichos and on Oct. 12, an SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft based at Beale Air Force Base in California took off, refueled off of Rota, Spain, and then flew over Syria, Jordan and Israel.
The plane, able to survey 100,000 square miles of land an hour, spotted the radiation from the missiles, according to a former Pentagon official and others familiar with the incident.
According to this Pentagon source, Israel ordered their F-4s to down the plane, but the Blackbird soared to 85,000 feet, beyond the range of the Israeli fighters. …
– Israel’s 1973 nuclear alert –
https://www.upi.com/Yom-Kippur-Israels-1973-nuclear-alert/64941032228992/
You have to hand it to the Russians, they have been very careful no to escalate tensions, the Russians have played a very steady incremental game, they move their pieces very slowly and incrementally, if they tried to deploy these A2AD systems when they first came in, they might’ve provoked a reaction. almost all territories have been liberated, and with the idlib dmz, now instead of running for their victory they took a big step towards it. they used the shooting down of their plane very cleverly to deploy their air defense systems, game on !