Russian defense minister confirms plans to supply Syria with cruise missiles

Russian defense minister confirms plans to supply Syria with cruise missiles

Russian defense minister confirms plans to supply Syria with cruise missilesRussian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov confirmed in Washington DC that his country would supply Syria with P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles, Russian news agencies reported on Friday.

“We will supply Yakhont to Syria, we will fulfill the contract,” Serdyukov was quoted as saying by ITAR-TASS news agency in comments to Russian journalists, adding that the contract was signed in 2007.

Serdyukov was speaking in Washington during a visit to the Pentagon aimed at expanding military relations as part of the countries’ much-vaunted “reset” in relations.

Russia’s arms sales and possible nuclear cooperation with Syria, which has close ties to Iran, is unnerving for the United States and Israel, which fear that weapons would be being transferred to the Lebanese group Hizbullah.Serdyukov described such fears as unjustified.

“The US and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont. But we do not see the concerns expressed by them that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists,” the defense minister said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Cabinet has formally approved the purchase of 20 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the nation’s air force. The value of the deal will be around $2.75 billion.

The decision was made after a series of talks between US and Israeli officials. 

These focused on issues including the extent to which Israel will be allowed to install its own electronic warfare equipment, and the level of industrial involvement that its defense industry will be granted in return for the order.

Sources suggest that the value of immediate offsets linked to the purchase will total over $2 billion.

“This aircraft is crucial to the defense of Israel,” Confirming the deal’s approval on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. 

The nation’s defense ministry had in mid-August recommended that the contract go forward. – flightglobal.com