On Tuesday, Russia announced the delivery of batteries of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Syria.
In an interview with Sputnik, Egyptian expert on Israel Muhammed Ali said that now that Syria has received S-300 air defense missiles from Russia, Tel Aviv will insist on getting similar weapons from the United States.
He added that the statement Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made on Facebook on Tuesday about his country’s right to self-defense amply proved this.
“Israel realizes that with the deployment of S-300 systems in Syria, it will no longer be able to provide emergency help to militants by striking Syrian military installations from the air,” the expert noted.
This means that Israel is losing its leverage on the situation in Syria and it will now be working hard to obtain new weapons.
“Donald Trump is not looking for any further confrontation with Russia in Syria as he has his hands full sorting out numerous problems and crises in his own country and the continuing protests over the US embassy move to Jerusalem,” Dr. Ali said.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US government and Congress for the historic 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and Israel on security assistance to the Jewish state.
“I thank the American administration and Congress for their commitment to Israel and also for the American financial assistance in the coming decade,” Netanyahu stated.
The MOU, signed in September 2016, guarantees Israel $38 billion in security aid over the coming decade.
This is the largest military assistance package that the United States has ever given to any country.
Speaking on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Tel Aviv wasn’t “happy” about the S-300sdeliveries to Syria, but it could not give up on its military operations in the war-ravaged country.
“I cannot say that we are happy about the deployment of the S-300s. At the same tome, we have no choice here. We have no opportunity to make decisions [on military operations in Syria],” he said.
The minister further stated that it was important for Russia and Israel to restore normal ties despite their disagreements over the downing of the Il-20 reconnaissance plane.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
