Russia mocks US’s ‘low effective’ air strike

Russia has said that only 23 out of the 59 cruise missiles fired from US warships at a Syrian air base hit the target.

The Syrian army’s air defense system will be reinforced by Russia in the near future to protect the most vital infrastructure facilities.

According to Russia’s data recording equipment, Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Friday that the effectiveness of US strike was low.

“The combat effectiveness of the US massive missile strike on Syria’s airbase was thus very low,” he said.

“According to the data recording equipment, only 23 missiles reached the Syrian air base.

“The place of the fall of the other missiles is unknown,” the spokesman said.

Russian radar data show that the Tomahawk missiles were fired from the US destroyers Porter and Ross in the Mediterranean between 03:42 and 03:56 Moscow time, the general said.

In 2016, several batteries of Russia’s air defense system S-300 were moved to the naval logistic facility at Tartus to provide protection for the base and Russian ships off Syria’s shores.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said a multi-tier defense system had been created around Tartus and the Hmeymim air base.

At the end of November the newest air defense system S-400 was delivered to Syria after a Turkish F-18 fighter shot down Russia’s Sukhoi-24 bomber.

Pantsir systems protect Russian military facilities from low-flying aircraft and missiles.

Also, the defense of Russian facilities incorporates the system Bastion, capable of hitting naval and ground targets 350-450 kilometers away.

Russia has helped Syria to restore the operation of its S-200 air defense systems that protect Russian bases from potential attacks from the east. Also, the Syrian army uses air defense systems Buk

The US missile strike in Syria had been planned in advance, while the chemical weapons incident was used just as a pretext, Konashenkov noted.

“It is obvious that the US cruise missiles attack on the Syrian air base had been planned well beforehand,” he said.

(NAN)