“IDF: Syria’s antiaircraft system most advanced in world”
“Some of these missiles were snatched from the production lines even before being introduced into Russian operation service.”
Thats never a good idea considering India’s experience with Russian equipments. Russian systems even when sufficiently advanced have to go through several rounds of trouble shooting and fixing of glitches before it can provide reliable performance. And Russians have habit of bragging about their weaponry long before it has even reach a stage where it can provide the bare minimum functionality. Considering that off the shelf purchases were made in 2007, it would be highly surprising if that have the air defense network has been operationalized already.
The Russian workers in the old Soviet Union used to say, “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.” The country has gotten marginally better since then, but old habits die hard. The Russians aren’t best in class in anything (well, except bread, but that’s not a strategic weapon, yet).
Typical hyperbole.From the Ynet article,the only new SAM systems,Syria has now ,is the SA-22 Pantsir & SA-24 short range systems,along with a bunch of SA-3s(1960s vintage) & SA-6(70s).There is no proof that Syria has ordered or has received S-300s.Even if they have,it takes atleast 3-5 years to build an integrated air defense system.