[moonshot925]

Syria already has 36 Mi-24 Hind gunships. I guess the Russians are selling more.

[donozark]

And Syria has an approx. equal number of Gazelles (French). Many Fulcrums as well. The brothers Assad have not used their aerial assets against the opposition as Qaddafi tried. Perhaps many dead-lined due to poor maintenance. Or due to Syria's incredibly shrinking military...

Just wonder if Russian pilots may be "substituted?"

[Zhang Fei]

Syria already has 36 Mi-24 Hind gunships. I guess the Russians are selling more.

The Syrians haven't made payments in years. This is a lot more like the Lend Lease program than anything else. I expect the loans for Russian weapons will eventually be forgiven in exchange for basing rights or some equally worthless trifle. This is Russia administering a beat-down to the Sunni Arabs who have been financing the jihad in the Caucasus (Chechnya, Dagestan, et al), along with the associated terrorist attacks on Russian hospitals, schools and so on. Best of all, Sunni Arabs are getting stomped without a single Russian finger on the trigger, or the associated Russian personnel losses.

[paulcissa]

Nothin’ a few Stingers can’t bring down......