The Russian Defense Ministry reported again that Syrian air defense forces, using Russian-supplied equipment, have successfully repelled the third Israeli attack in a week. “From 05:40 a.m. to 05:54 a.m., two F-16 tactical fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force, which stayed outside Syria’s airspace, delivered a strike, from the southwestern direction, with two guided missiles at facilities in the settlement of Seidat Zeinab in the Damascus governorate,” said Radm Vadim Kulit, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria on July 25, reported TASS. He also stated that both missiles were downed with the use of the Russian-made Buk-M2E systems of the Syria air defense units.
There’s still no official statement from Israel on these attacks and the Russian statements on them. There is, however, commentary on what the full implications of the Russian statements might be. Jerusalem Post columnist Herb Keinon wrote in a commentary posted on July 25 that if the Russian statements that Syria air defenses shot down most of the Israeli missiles, are even partially true, “it is a significant development that may force Jerusalem to rethink its Syria policy and how to keep the Iranians from entrenching there. This will test [Prime Minister] Bennett and [Foreign Minister] Lapid’s argument that anything Netanyahu can do, they can do better, and that relationships are between countries, not leaders.”
