Israeli Analyst: Firing Missiles at IAF Planes Shows Assad Confident Due to Russian Backing

The Algemeiner reports: The firing of S-200 missiles at Israeli Air Force planes on Thursday night was an indication of the bolstered confidence Syrian President Bashar Assad is feeling thanks to Russia’s backing of his regime, a veteran military analyst for Israel’s Channel 2 said on Friday.

One of the Syrian missiles was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow aerial defense system — the Arrow’s first-ever operational interception — and this is what differentiated last night’s events from previous reported IAF operations in Syria targeting Hezbollah-bound advanced weaponry shipments, Roni Daniel wrote.

While in the past the Israeli military declined to comment on such reported activities, on Friday it acknowledged its planes “struck several targets in Syria and were fired upon by anti-aircraft missiles.”