Anticipating U.S. air strikes, Syria asks for Russian S-300 and other advanced weapons

Anticipating U.S. air strikes, Syria asks for Russian S-300 and other advanced weapons. (AA).

The Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad feared the rise of Republicans in the U.S. Congress and began preparing for a potential radical shift in U.S. foreign policy towards Syria, statements by the country’s foreign minister revealed on Thursday.

Damascus was afraid that the rise of Republicans could mount pressure on President Barack Obama to launch military strikes against the regime army’s installations in Syria and has asked Russia to speed up the delivery of a powerful air defense system, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in an interview with Lebanon’s al-Akhbar newspaper.

Washington had pledged that air strikes against the Islamist State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) would not target Syria army targets, the foreign minister said.

“Do we trust this commitment? For now, we realize that President Barack Obama, for domestic reasons, wants to avoid war with Syria,” he told the newspaper.

“But we do not know how Obama will act under mounting pressure, and the pressure will only increase if the Republicans achieve a majority in the U.S. mid-term elections, so we have to prepare ourselves.”

The interview was conducted before Tuesday’s U.S. elections, which saw the Republicans regain control of Congress.

“This is what we explained bluntly to the Russians, and we asked them to use take advantage of the situation and provide us with advanced weapons,” he said.

Asked if he was referring to S-300 anti-aircraft missiles, which Damascus has long sought from Russia, Muallem replied: “Yes, and other advanced weapons.”

“We will get them and other advanced weapons in a reasonable period,” he said.

“The main problem is on the road to a speedy solution, meaning the Kremlin’s political approval. It is just around the corner,” he added.

S-300 batteries are advanced surface-to-air weapons that can take out aircraft or guided missiles, and Russia’s planned sale of the missiles to Damascus has raised international concerns.

Last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said delivery of the weapons had been suspended “for the moment” without saying why, AFP reported.

His comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a special visit to Russia to convince Moscow to halt the shipments.

Syria has reportedly paid a deposit of several hundred million dollars for between three to six missile system units.

 Flashback: September 2013. 

 Putin said it is premature to talk about what Russia would do if the U.S. attacked Syria.

“We have our own ideas about how we would act in the case that chemical weapons were used or in the case that they weren’t,” he said. “We have our plans, but it’s too early to talk about that.”

Putin called the S-300 air defense missile system “a very efficient weapon” and said that Russia had a contract for its delivery of the S-300s to Syria. “We have supplied some of the components, but the delivery hasn’t been completed. We have suspended it for now,” he said.

“But if we see that steps are taken that violate the existing international norms, we shall think how we should act in the future, in particular regarding supplies of such sensitive weapons to certain regions of the world.”

The statement could be a veiled threat to revive a contract for the delivery of the S-300s to Iran, which Russia canceled a few years ago under strong U.S. and Israeli pressure.