Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said the regime has received the first shipment of sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft missiles, while the main Western-backed opposition group today announced that it will not participate in peace talks - a double blow to international efforts to end the country's devastating civil war.
Assad's comment on the arrival of the long-range S-300 air defense missiles in Syria, which was made in an interview with Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned TV station, could further ratchet up tensions in the region and undermine any to hold any peace talks.
Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said earlier this week that Russia's plan to supply Syria with the weapons was a threat and that Israel was prepared to use force to stop the delivery.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV released Assad's comments on the Russian missiles in print, through its breaking news service today.
"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets," the TV quoted Assad as saying. He added: "All our agreements with Russia will be implemented and parts of them have already been implemented."
The shipment of the missiles, if confirmed, comes just days after the European Union lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving way for individual countries of the 27-member bloc to send weapons to rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime.
The developments raise fears of an arms race - not just between Assad's forces and the opposition fighters battling to topple his regime, but also in the wider Middle East.
Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapon shipments bound for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group that along with Iran and Russia is a staunch Assad ally. It is not clear whether Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace in these attacks.
With the Russian missiles in Syria's possession, the Israeli air force's ability to strike inside the Arab country could be limited since the S-300s would expand Syria's capabilities, allowing it to counter airstrikes launched from foreign airspace as well.
The S-300s have a range of up to 200 kilometers and the capability to track and strike multiple targets simultaneously. Syria already possesses Russian-made air defenses, and Israel is believed to have used long-distance bombs fired from Israeli or Lebanese airspace.
Meanwhile, the Syrian National Coalition's decision not to attend US-Russian sponsored talks with representatives of the Assad regime torpedoes the only plan for trying to end Syria's two-year conflict that the international community had been able to agree on.
"The National Coalition will not participate in an international conference and will not support any efforts in light of Iran's malicious invasion of Syria," a spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition, Khalid Saleh, told reporters in Istanbul.
