On September 17, and Israeli attack against the Syrian coast led to a flurry of air defenses activating and the shoot-down of a Russian surveillance plane. The Russian plane was reported hit by air defenses because Israeli planes were hiding behind it. After this, Russia gave Syria advanced S-300 air defense systems.
Israel has insisted the S-300s won’t impact their ability to strike Syria, but there hasn’t been a single media report in the over a month since then of such an attack. On Monday, however, Israel claimed they have attacked Syria since September 17, and coordinated with Russia.
This claim is clearly intended to bolster their clears that they remain capable of attacking at will, particularly as the plain lack of attacks has raised a lot of doubts about that. Still, the claim with no additional details doesn’t answer any questions.
If anything, this makes the lack of confirmed Israeli attacks on Syria all the more conspicuous. They had been launching attacks several times a week with virtual impunity before September 17, and always with a lot of press coverage. To think the attacks continued and the coverage simply disappeared is unthinkable.
