Syria has received its first shipment of long-range S-300 air defense missiles from Russia, President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying Thursday, raising the specter of further Israeli intervention in the two-year conflict.
"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian antiaircraft S-300 rockets," he said, according to leaked excerpts of a prerecorded interview with al-Manar television, a mouthpiece for Lebanon's Shiite militant movement Hezbollah. Assad added that more missiles are due to arrive soon.
The Israeli government had no comment Thursday on Assad's claim, but military experts were skeptical.