A pro-Assad commander claims that Syria is boosting its air defense systems along the Israeli border. They are stationing Russian-made Pantsir S1 (SA-22 Greyhound) systems on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
The commander also told Reuters that Syria will be deploying additional measures on the Golan Heights in the coming days. He said this is the only way to stop Israeli attacks.
This action comes ahead of Assad’s planned offensive in southern Syria against the Syrian rebels controlling the areas near the border with Jordan and Israel. Over the past few weeks Assad’s forces have been attacking Syrian rebels in Syria’s south-west.
Iran and Hezbollah have been donning Syrian uniforms in order to stay active in Syria’s southern front.
As policy, Israel won’t accept Iran or Hezbollah troops along its border, nor any weapons system on the Golan Heights that could threaten Israel or its freedom of movement.
Last month, dozens of rockets were launched by Iranian controlled forces in Syria at Israel. Israel shot them all down, and then destroyed dozens of Iranian positions and military infrastructure in Syria.
If the pro-Syrian commander’s claim is true, a very likely scenario is that Israel will be destroying those air defense systems in the very near future.