A Russian military source confirmed that his government had supplied Syria with three battalion sets of S-300 missiles , each containing 8 launchers.
The entire air defense system was handed over free of charge, the same source added.
The delivery also includes more than 100 surface-to-air guided missiles for each battalion.
“These systems were previously deployed at one of the Russian aerospace forces’ regiments which now use the S-400 Triumf systems. The S-300 missiles underwent capital repairs at Russian defense enterprises, are in good condition and are capable of performing combat tasks”, the same source explained.
In 2010, Syria and Russia signed an agreement to supply the S-300 missiles . Yet, the deal was frozen.
However, on September 24, Russia officially declared that it will supply the Syrian Army with the advanced air defense systems.
This came after the Russian IL-20 plane was tragically downed on September 18. Even though the reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by S-200 missiles fired by the Syrian air defenses, Russia held Israel fully responsible for the tragic incident.
On October 2, Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, told President Vladimir Putin that Russia had supplied Syria with 49 pieces of equipment as part of the S-300 delivery intended to boost security of the Russian taskforce in that country. The equipment included radars, control vehicles and four launchers.
The image below shows the capabilities of S-300 missiles to protect the Syrian airspace once deployed near the capital.
The advanced system can cover the entire Syrian coast, southern Lebanon and north of occupied Palestine.
The S-300 missiles are 150-250 km range and are capable of shooting down 24 aircrafts at the same time in addition to 16 ballistic missiles.