RUSSIA

Asia Times: Russian bear makes Israel jittery

While Syrian President Bashar Assad denied that he was in Moscow to shop for weapons, he defended his country's right to acquire surface-to-air missiles from Russia. He said during his four-day visit that was due to end on Thursday that "these are weapons for air defense, meant to prevent aircraft from intruding in our airspace". "If Israel objects to our acquisition of these defensive weapons, it is as if it is saying, 'We want to attack Syria but we do not want them to defend themselves.' That's not logical," concluded Assad while addressing the State Institute for Foreign Relations. But Assad reiterated an earlier denial of a deal for SA-18 missiles and long-range Iskandar-E missiles that could reach targets all over Israel.

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