Foreign Military Sources: Turkish Aircraft Downed By High-Tech Pantsir S1 Russian Radar

Nedal Hmadeh
As the Syrian air defense succeeded last week in downing the Turkish Phantom aircraft, the incident was subjected to analysis from two perspectives: a military one as well as a strategic-political side.
According to what these media spread and what is being leaked, it has become certain that the Phantom aircraft was shot down by an anti-aircraft machine gun controlled by high-tech Pantsir S1 Russian radar.

In parallel, the second aspect discussed by media is that Syria intentionally downed the aircraft as a clear message to Turkey. According to analysts, the message stresses that "the Syrian regime believes that war with Turkey is better than the civil war that Ankara is the main source of its triggering behind the borders."

In this context, the former Colonel in the French Army Alan Corvez stressed that " the Western and Russian armies use radar-controlled machine guns."
In remarks to "al-Intiqad" website, the military man who was part of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, unveiled that " the Syrians used this system in shooting down the Turkish military aircraft."
In response to a question that the matter might just be a field accident, Corvez denied such possibility. "This is not a field accident at all. Shooting down this aircraft was done by a direct Syrian order."

He further confirmed that "the aircraft was downed in Syrian regional waters after it penetrated the Syrian air space."
"The Syrian message is clear to Turkey," Corvez said and pointed out that "Turkey was testing the Syrian reaction by penetrating Syria's air space."
However, he highlighted that the Syrian response was clear: "There are limits that the regime can't condone to be crossed."
For its part, the weekly magazine "Le Canard Enchaîné" stated that "Syria is packed with tons of weapons because of the West and its Sunni allies support to the Syrian armed rebels against the Damascus regime."

"The weapons include anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, bombs, and automatic guns that come from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates," the well-informed magazine added.
It also reported that "the Arab arms come in parallel to US satellites that provide the rebels with intelligence information on the Syrian forces' movements."
Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities afforded a building, to the command of the so-called "Free Syrian Army" to coordinate their attacks. Similarly, the wealthy Qatar pays the salaries of the rebels.

The French magazine also mentioned in its report that "in case of a foreign military intervention, i.e. unauthorized from the United Nations Security Council, the Syrian Army must face these armies."
"The Syrian army doesn't lack the ability to respond," it emphasized as it listed some of the Syrian military weapons: Buk-M2 land- air missiles, Bastion anti-ship missiles with 250km, high-tech anti-aircraft Stalin batteries, almost 5000 tanks, and many others arms that we forgot to mention.

"Bashar's [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's] team is frankly very fortified," "Le Canard Enchaîné" concluded.


Source: al-Intiqad, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org

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