Illustrative image.
The fate of Syria’s fleet of Pantsir-S air defense systems came into question on May 28 as one vehicle was spotted being moved in the coastal city of Latakia, in the first such sighting since the fall of the regime of president Bashar al-Assad last December.
Syria was among the first countries to purchase the advanced air defense system from Russia. The country is reported to have received at least 57 systems from the S1 and the upgraded S2 versions. The delivery began before 2011, and continued well into the war.
The main armament of Pantsir-S systems in service with the Syrian Arab Air Defense Forces (SyAADF) was the 57E6-E missile, with a range of 18 kilometers and altitude of 15 kilometers.
During the war in Syria, the system was credited with several kills against Turkish aircraft, from an F-4 fighter jet in 2011 to multiple Bayraktar TB2 and TAI Anka combat drones in 2020. It also played a key role in repelling hundreds of Israeli aerial attacks on the country, although losses were reported.
Just a few days before the fall of the Assad regime, a Pantsir-S system was captured by rebels, namely the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, near Aleppo city. This was the first time the country lost control over an air defense system of this type.
Click to see full-size image. Via Facebook.
Hours after the fall of the regime on December 8, Israel launched hundreds of strikes with the aim to destroy all of Syria’s combat capabilities in a large-scale aerial attack dubbed “Operation Arrow of Bashan.” At least 80% of the country’s air defense, including nearly all of the Pantsir-S systems, were reportedly taken out.
Still, some observers rushed to speculate that some of the systems had survived after photos showing a Pantsir-S being transported on a trailer in Latakia surfaced online.
While the front section of the system appeared to be intact in the vague photos, an eyewitness from Latakia who personally saw the system being transported on al-Thawra road told SouthFront that the rest of the system was completely wrecked. The witness speculated that the system was previously hit by an Israeli strike.
Later, it emerged that the system was moved by the new Syrian military to an air defense base located near the town of Sqoubin, right to the northeast of the city.
According to available information, the base, which witnessed several blasts in recent months, was recently turned into a center where air defense systems and anti-aircraft missiles are being decommissioned then turned into scrap metal for sale.
Click to see full-size image. Via Facebook.
Click to see full-size image. Via Facebook.
Former SyAADF officers who spoke with SouthFront also revealed that the Pantsir-S left behind in Aleppo was critically damaged from the inside.
All other systems abandoned on the night of the regime fall were also badly damaged, according to the officers, who said that some of the systems crashed in traffic incidents while being evacuated and others were hacked into pieces by civilians who attempted to steal copper wiring and other valuable materials.
Click to see full-size image.
Syria, which once operated one of the densest air defense networks in the Middle East, is now without any effective air defenses.
Aside from anti-aircraft guns, older man-portable air defense systems and some Soviet-made 9K35 Strela-10 short-range air defense systems that survived the last battle, the country has nothing to guard its skies, which are now completely open to both the Turkish Air Force and the Israeli Air Force.
The new military is still refusing to allow experienced air defense officers to return to service, despite the fact that nearly all of them had no involvement in operations against the rebels. Without these personnel and with no funds or ability to buy new air defenses, the country’s airspace will likely remain open for the foreseeable future.
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a síria está em ruínas e sob controle de terroristas e israel. a maior parte da liderança do hezbollah está morta. o hamas em gaza está sendo cada vez mais pressionado. a comunidade internacional não se importa. os países árabes não estão fazendo nada. todos os indicadores sugerem que os israelenses vão se safar impunemente.
biden contrajo cáncer por traicionar a afganistán, espero que putler contraiga peste o ántrax por su traición.
you already know how branko marinković and hos attacked bolivia, because trump was not in the white house and puteler was not yet a traitor then. because of putler’s betrayal of syria, venezuela is now also in danger.
but now trump is in the white house, marco rubio is the little marco minister and ante gotovina is at large and ante gotovina can be done with cuba or venezuela in a month, because if the us leads the war alone, they will lose.
hos and branko marinković wanted to install marinković as president of bolivia without the 2008 elections. if trump had been in the white house, marco rubio as minister, and ante gotovina free, this would have been possible.
if putler were not a traitor, maria corina would not have tried to seize power in venezuela without elections. but, because she had no more than 70 soldiers (christian terrorists), she lost. but if we had put ante gotovina in charge of trump’s army, we would have taken over bolivia, cuba, and venezuela within three months. by the way, trump’s commanders and maria corina are idiots. if maria corina had asked gotovina for help, he would have certainly explained to her how many so
is that some bullshit from artificial nation of croatia? screw that! ustasha is worthless imbecile.
que traição, do que você está falando seu maluco.
hos and branko marinković wanted to install marinković as president of bolivia without the 2008 elections. if trump had been in the white house, marco rubio as minister, and ante gotovina free, this would have been possible. now, crazy maria corina in venezuela tried to defeat maduro’s army with 70 christian al qaeda terrorists. the ending was sad because she didn’t ask ante gotovina or jolani for advice on how to do it.
russian air defense systems are worthless, as seen in syria and ukraine
it is the nato/ukrainian propagandists that are worthless, as seen everywhere in the world. those believing they bullshit do it at their own peril. just ask ukraine.
they betrayed afghanistan and god struck the traitor biden with cancer, i hope he has something worse for the traitor putler (ebola, nipah or mad cow disease, or some other nicer disease like sars).
“russian air defense systems are worthless” that’s why all of the ukrainian missiles and drones go through, and ukrainian air force can fly over russia without having to worry, all of russian industry has been destroyed, tens of thousands of russians killed by ukrainian drone attacks. right?
when nato banned the use of missiles to attack civilian targets in russia, and merz has now lifted this ban… now zelensky will be able to attack the concert of crocus cocaine hall with a rocket. i hope one big fat rocket finds the traitors of putler and the ass in moscow.
also remember when poutine made a deal with the turki$h delight to buy all those s-400s?… if only you could turn back time!…
wha happen my anuz in gay bar amerika one big gay bar
but inside are the gay russian prostitutes themselves.
humiliated russian military looks so beautiful.
thats is a mirror you are looking into, moron.
if i looked in the mirror, the mirror would crack and the devil would appear behind me. but maria corina and her 70 christian terrorists, five rockets, two hand-held rocket launchers, and a large quantity of explosives were not enough to seize power in venezuela. if maria corina equips herself better next time and hires professionals like ante gotovina, she will of course be able to govern without any problems without elections.
inshllah true syrians take back their country again and kick jolani and his ilk to the dung heap of history
biden has cancer because he betrayed afghanistan, i hope something worse happens to putler for betraying syria.
these systems could protect russian cities now instead of giving them to the syrians. every rubel invested into that country was pointless. the result of the war was as if syria had not fought al quida a single day. even worse it cost iran and lebanon troops and equipment they cant use against israeli attacks now.
i would rather see israel hit jolani with a rocket. even better, the traitors putler, bashar the ass, and asma assad die within a year of anything, preferably ebola or plague.
the greater israel masters do not want these turned around by the people to strike us and israeli aircraft .
russia was lucky the israelis didnt trust the turks and hts or these weapons might have been given to ukraine.