Defiant Syria is upgrading its military capabilities

Despite the ongoing internal unrest, Syria is continuing to upgrade its military capabilities and recently declared a number of new surface-to-air missile systems (SAMs) operational. Over the past year, Syria has received a number of SA- 17 batteries from Russia under a deal signed several years ago. Two batteries are already reportedly operational and deployed along Syria’s border with Lebanon. A third is undergoing training. As a result, the IDF has modified the way it flies in the North and particularly when conducting missions over Lebanon, where it...