Russia intensified its warnings against Western military intervention in Syria Tuesday, with Moscow saying such a move would be illegal and Syrian air defenses would put any strike at risk. 
An unnamed Moscow official warned that the international community wouldn’t be granted an “easy victory” in Syria, pointing to what the individual claimed was Damascus’s sufficient air defense systems, including surface-to-air missile systems, capable of thwarting severe damage, the Russian Interfax news agency reported.

“If the US army and NATO launch an operation against Syria, there won’t be an easy victory,” the news agency reported, quoting the military source, who claimed Syria has at least 10 air defense batteries as well as a Soviet and Russian-made arsenal that can combat incoming cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other projectiles.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich called on the international community to heed international law and be prudent regarding the Syrian crisis.
“Attempts to bypass the UN Security Council, once again to create artificial and baseless excuses for a military intervention in the region, are fraught with more suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa,” he said in a statement.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin lashed out at the West Tuesday, writing on Twitter that “The West behaves toward the Islamic world like a monkey with a grenade.”
The Arab League, though, added its voice to the growing chorus of anti-Assad voices Tuesday, saying that the Syrian regime was entirely responsible for the attack. It called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, reports about an unsuccessful attempt by North Korea to export gas masks and arms to Syria were publicized Tuesday, first by a Japanese newspaper, Sankei Shimbun, and then translated into English by AFP. The communist regime was said to have sent gas masks, 1,400 rifles and pistols, and more than 30,000 bullets and ammunition to Syria. The shipment, however, was seized in Turkey. According to the report, US authorities believed the cargo was to be unloaded in Turkey and then sent by land to Syria.