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Russia appears to be about to use a new secret weapon against Ukraine - but it's not a jet or missile, but rather a 75-year-old biplane transport plane. Find out the bizarre story here...

The radar of a Greek S-300 missile system based on the island of Crete locked on to the Turkish jets on Tuesday, Anadolu reported on Sunday, citing defence ministry sources. The F-16s were at an altitude of 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) to the west of Greece’s Rhodes island when the Russian-made S-300’s target-tracking radar locked on, the report added. The Turkish planes completed their mission and returned to their bases “despite the hostile environment”. Radar lock-ons are considered an act of hostility under NATO rules of engagement. Greek defence ministry sources dismissed the allegations. Last week, Turkey summoned the Greek...

Shocking footage has emerged of the moment a Russian soldier attempted to destroy a Ukrainian missile launcher from close range with dramatic and potentially lethal consequences. The clip, shared on a pro-Russian channel on social media and messaging app Telegram, shows one of Putin's fighters taking aim at an abandoned Ukrainian S-300 missile launcher sitting mere yards away. After taking a few moments to compose himself, the soldier squeezes the trigger of his PKM machine gun, presumably expecting to damage the hardware or perhaps set off a minor explosion to render it inoperable. A split second later the missile launcher...

Russia has reiterated its threat to target arms shipments to Ukraine, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying Friday that any cargo believed to be carrying weapons are “fair game” while vowing to block the transfer of Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems to Kyiv. “Any cargo moving into Ukrainian territory which we would believe is carrying weapons would be fair game,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russia Today. Slovakia has said that it is ready to send its S-300 system to Ukraine “immediately” provided that it receives a replacement to protect its own airspace.

What Six Years of ‘Reset’ with Russia Have Wrought by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER August 27, 2015 On September 5, 2014, Russian agents crossed into Estonia and kidnapped an Estonian security official. Last week, after a closed trial, Russia sentenced him to 15 years. The reaction? The State Department issued a statement. The NATO secretary-general issued a tweet. Neither did anything. The European Union (reports the Wall Street Journal) said it was too early to discuss any possible action. The timing of this brazen violation of NATO territory — two days after President Obama visited Estonia to symbolize America’s commitment to its...

NEWSRAEL: It is further reported that the failure of its air defense system at Natanz has got Iran in a fit and heads are about to roll... Updated Iranian sources revealed that unmanned aerial vehicles penetrated Iran's airspace because air defense systems were unable to shoot them down. According to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, more than five reconnaissance UAVs penetrated Iranian airspace, and the Iranian missile system "Bavar 373" and the Russian S-300 missile system failed to shoot them down.

BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:00 P.M.) – The Russian Armed Forces have allegedly given the Syrian military the green light to use their S-300 system against Israeli warplanes that enter their airspace, the Russian aviation publication Avia.Pro reported. “Against the background of how Israel was repeatedly seen striking at Syria despite the previously reached agreements between Russia and Israel, a source told Avia.pro that the Syrian military received permission to use its air defense systems in case of the slightest threat from Israel, provided that the Syrian side bears responsibility for such actions,” Avia.Pro said. Despite completing the installation of their S-300...

Putin offers to sell Saudi Arabia its missile defense systems in the wake of the attack on its oil facilities. “We are ready to help Saudi Arabia so that she can protect her territory,” he says. “She can do so in the same way that Iran has already done in buying the S-300 Russian missile system and the same way that Turkey has already done in buying the S-400 Russian missile system,” Putin adds at a press conference in Ankara, alongside the Turkish and Iranian leaders. The US has blamed Iran for the attack on the Saudi oil facilities.

Russia has completed an elaborate air defense system in Syria that curbs the operational capabilities of both the United States and Israel, according to a report by the Washington- based Institute for the Study of War. The deployments throughout the conflict-ravaged country include variations of the advanced S-300 and S-400 systems in addition to other cutting-edge technologies. Moscow long ago exported such systems to Syria, however, they remained under the control of its own army. Only after the accidental downing in September by Syrian forces of a Russian reconnaissance plane, an incident the Kremlin blamed on Jerusalem which minutes earlier...

Israel and the United States sent a secret military delegation to Ukraine to test the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, which Moscow recently provided to Syria, Hadashot TV news reported Monday, citing Syrian and Russian news outlets. There was no comment on the reports from either Israel or the US. According to the reports, members of the Ukrainian military instructed their US and Israeli counterparts on the capabilities of the system, as well as running through various possible scenarios. One Russian report said that F-15 planes are training in Ukraine against the S-300 as part of an international exercise that...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli official played down on Wednesday the Russian upgrading of Syria’s air defences, saying the newly supplied S-300 missile system could be defeated by Israel’s stealth fighters and possibly destroyed on the ground. Moscow said on Tuesday that it had delivered the S-300, a decision it took after accusing Israel of indirect responsibility for the downing of a Russian spy plane by Syrian forces as they fired on attacking Israeli jets last month. Damascus and its big-power backer describe the advanced addition to Syria’s arsenal as a major deterrent. Israel and Washington have both voiced misgivings...

The update was interrupted this afternoon by pro-Palestinians at the hotel and had to be re-broadcast later. All the parts of the S-300s are in Syria now and only the further steps are needed to make them operational. Israel basically now has a border with Russia, not with Syria. Other aspects of the buildup toward conflict, involving the United States and others. The big picture is taking shape.

The Syrian government first began receiving S-200 systems around 1983. By the time the civil war began, the Syrian army still operated several S-200 sites, but on at least one occasion, rebels overran one site that contained a fire control radar in disrepair. Beginning in 2015 after Russia joined the war on the side of Syria, efforts were made to rehabilitate these systems. In November 2016, Defense Minister Shoigu announced that Syria’s S-200s had been restored. Thoughout 2017 several were fired at Israeli aircraft, and while the Syrians claimed to have downed an Israeli fighter and a drone at one...

Russian officials said Syria's outdated S-200 systems weren't sophisticated enough to identify the Russian plane as a friendly one. Monday's statement from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will send the newer S-300 missile defense systems to Syria within the next two weeks. Earlier in the war, Russia suspended a supply of S-300, which Israel feared Syria could use against it. Shoigu said Russia is now going to go ahead with the shipment because "the situation has changed, and it's not our fault." The supply of S-300s to Syria will "calm down some hotheads" whose actions "pose a threat...

A Kremlin aide said Friday that Russia has walked back its talk of supplying the Syrian government with more missiles, just days after a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Russia had floated giving President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime S-300 ground-to-air missiles after the U.S., Britain, and France launched airstrikes on Syria last month, a punishment for Assad’s chemical attack on his own people, including children. However, Netanyahu may have successfully lobbied Russian president Vladimir Putin this week not to render the extra military aid. The Kremlin now believes the missiles are not needed at this time, according to Vladimir...

Russia is moving the S-300 surface-to-air missiles into Syria under a literal smokescreen, to be placed next to the Syrian air bases, but it will be "resolved." Turkey is calling for new surface-to-air missiles. Iran suffering tremendous unrest, which we are not hearing about in our media, and will suffer more if Trump pulls out of Iran deal. And in Gaza the assault on the Israeli border continues, with teenagers being sacrificed to the battle. Not a pretty picture, but stay tuned till the end to hear a very moving description of Israel's purpose in the world, and our role...

Thursday, October 27, 2016 It's a Mad, Mad War Posted by Daniel Greenfield Russia and the West are fighting to decide whether Syria will be run by Sunni Islamists backed by Saudi Arabia or Shiite Islamists backed by Iran. This insane civil war has burned up countless lives, not to mention plenty of dollars, rubles, euros and pounds. The only certain winners of this war, once the dust has settled, will chant “Allahu Akbar” and call for the death of the infidels. Sadly this is nothing new. Russia got the PLO started before Bill Clinton decided to become its sugar...

Iran has deployed Russian-made S-300 long-range missiles in its Fordow nuclear facility, Tehran Times and other Iranian state-run media reported Sunday. State TV showed the missiles and other counter-strike weapons being transported to Fordow. The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is a uranium enrichment facility located 20 miles northeast of the city of Qom. The site is the second Iranian uranium enrichment facility, the other one is in Natanz. In January 2012 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced that Iran had started producing uranium enriched up to 20%. Earlier on Sunday, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a...

... mystery surrounding the hijacking of a Russian freighter in July has taken a new twist with reports claiming the pirates were acting in league with the Israeli Mossad secret service in order to halt a shipment of modern weapon systems hidden on board and destined for Iran. ...The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported over the weekend that the vessel Arctic Sea had been carrying x-55 cruise missiles and S300 anti-aircraft rockets hidden in secret compartments among its cargo of timber and sawdust.

Was Israel's secret service behind the mysterious hijacking of a Russian freighter to foil a secret attempt to ship cruise missiles to Iran? The mystery surrounding the hijacking of a Russian freighter in July has taken a new twist with reports claiming the pirates were acting in league with the Israeli Mossad secret service in order to halt a shipment of modern weapon systems hidden on board and destined for Iran. While Israeli and Russian officials dismissed the reports, accounts published in the Russian media sounded more like a spy thriller than a commercial hijacking.