© ImageSat InternationalSatellite photos released by ImageSat International appear to show three out of four missile launchers of the S-300 air defense system in the raised position in Masyaf on February 5, 2019.
The private Israeli satellite intelligence firm, ImagSat revealed the day before the July 1st strike which killed 15 civilians, that the Russian provided S-300's had gone operational in Syria. Israel had promised strikes on strategic positions in the event that Syria operationalized the S-300's provided by Russia.
© ImageSat InternationalSatellite photos released by ImageSat International appear to show all four missile launchers of the S-300 air defense system in the raised position in the northwestern Syrian city of Masyaf on June 30, 2019.
It appears that among the subjects of the Israel-Russia-US talks was an urging by the Russian side that it not allow the S-300's to go operational. As a consequence of a failure of any agreement, Israel launched strikes as they threatened they would.
Regarding the claims made by ImagSat, while an Israeli company and therefore suspect in its claims, FRN previously found them to be correct regarding the movement of S-300's in Venezuela, which warded off any potential US attack.
There have been a series of attempts in some alternative media, pushing an inflated version of the 'Russia-Israel cooperation' model on Syria and Iran, that the attacks were evidence of the contrary - that Israel and Russia had come to some deal on the reduction of Iranian influence in the region.
This is patently incoherent for a number of reasons, and amount therefore to baseless claims and wild speculation.
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