Syria Conducts War Games to Test 'Readiness to Repulse Any Attack'
The Syrian navy and air force conducted live-fire man oeuvres on Tuesday to test their preparedness to repulse "any aggression against the homeland," the official SANA news agency reported.
"The air force and air defenses conducted maneuvers with live ammunition ... with a view to testing the combat capabilities of the air forces and to test their readiness to respond to any aggression" against the country, SANA said.
The agency added that naval forces had carried out similar exercises.
In early December, rockets and tanks were tested "as part of a 2011 training program ... to deter any enemy attack," SANA reported at the time.
The exercises were "a show of force designed to intimidate," according to a Syrian analyst.
Another analyst said the war games aimed to deter "any (Western) impulse to intervene militarily in Syria by showing that it is prepared to declare a regional war."
An opposition figure said it was an act of defiance to signal that "the regime is ready to up the stakes if serious pressure continues to be exerted on it."
Foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi denied that the exercises were meant as a message "to anyone" but acknowledged that "Syria finds itself in a complicated situation."
Syria has come under U.S., EU and Arab sanctions over its suppression of anti-regime protests in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed since mid-March.
over 12 years
Your comments are totally useless. The syrian army is only doing this for local consumption to fool the syrains into thinking that there is a foreign invasion and rally around the president and also to send a message to the Arab world and Israel telling them that he will burn the whole area if forced to leave. What he does not know is that the US can bring the whole syrian army and infrastructure down in no more that a day without even being present on the ground. This a last ditch attempt at stopping the uprising...will he succeed? This is to be seen...
over 12 years
It takes the intellect of a tree stump to conclude that Syria is leaving Lebanon in "the dust." It shows utter stupidity and lack of knowledge of simple facts.
Despite its horrific history of civil war and other societal problems, Lebanon remains ahead of Syria on many fronts. From GDP per capita, literacy, to health care. You name it. Not because the Syrians can't do better. It is because of the totalitarian regime they have been under for the last four decades that prevented them from doing better than a nation mired in civil war. A regime whose sole purpose is to survive at the expense of the freedom and dignity of the citizens.
I am rooting for the Syrian people to free themselves from the Assad cancer, and for Lebanon to free itself from the Iranian occupation.
over 12 years
@sweating_demon: Once again, you manged to exhibit your usual shock and awe of stupidity. I am no even sure where you stand on many issues. Regardless, her is a bit of reality check for you. It will take your Syrian proteges millions of years to be even considered to be at the same level of intelligence of my fellow Lebanese, regardless of their religion or political affiliation. Also, what real economy are you talking about, they can take these cheap socks and shirts that they flood the markets with and burn them. That product is only a reflection of their capacity.... you made me so angry, I can not even believe it I am actually replying to your post. And about the arms and weapons that they are displaying,remember how large Saddam's army was. I can still see them running in the desert with their underwear. So please, spare me your ignorance.
over 12 years
leave sweating boy alone: he admires a regime that harmed lebanon more than israel and his friends even thanked them for that!
a "resistant" country that never fired a single shot against israel to free the golan heights but kills his own people!
that is resistance!
he admires a regime put in place by israel so that they would never resist it only by words!
he admires a country that has stolen lebanon to finance its economy...
so leave him alone in his admiration...
over 12 years
Gabby, ASSad is conducting war games. You see now what happens when you give ASSad and his regime a grace period after a grace period after a grace period? Even your buddy aragon is laughing at you. Now how are you going to justify your actions to peace and thepatriot and even more so to allouchi? In Arabic, you deserve that I tell you: KHARJAK to you and Dr. Mufehmanchi Mkhashkhash. Will you ever learn not to give the likes of ASSad a second and third and fourth and... nth chance? KHARJAK.
over 12 years
Changes are coming to Syria one way or another......
over 12 years
Actually, Anyone of you thinking that Syrian army has outdated military equipments is simply ignorant! Syrian officers have been training in Russia for years and have acquired the latest air defence systems (pantsir s1, etc...) I guess they already have the s300(not confirmed) , yakhont anti ship cruise missile system, Buk air defense ( updated),Manpads and other portable air defense systems and so on... Many Highly ranked Russian generals have been commenting on the Syrian army capabilities, they have the most complexe air defense systems in the region. Saying that 98% are dumb is a myth, Syrian army is highly trained, and smarter than some people around here, Syrian army has more than 300 Yakhont missiles, thousands of guided anti tank missiles, hundreds of ballistic missiles, 4000 air defense guns, and hundreds of statics and mobile air defense systems. 5000 tanks and more than 1 million personnel (including reservists).
over 12 years
The last leader who tried to face the air defense system got shot and buried in the desert. As someone mentioned it would take around 24 to 48hrs before Iran immigration department receives the request to welcome Assad's team.
over 12 years
Iran and North Korea do the same thing. No one is fooled. no one is scared.
over 12 years
Headlines in a year or so:
After securing Allepo,Daraa and Homs last week, the Lebanese Deterrent Force, under the cover of the U.S air force enter Damascus today to stop the massacres committed by the unjust regime.
over 12 years
US, UK don't need a week to take out Syria.. it would be about 30 to 45minutes. They have estimated through operation bumble bee that Iran would require a simlar shock and awe as done with Iraq though would require 2 to 3 hours to destroy. America will no longer occupy cities simply hit and run, hence the code word bumble bee. There are 4 US carrier off the shores of Syria and that means war will take place within the next 2 months. I do not want people to die and I hate the fact how we as lebanese are forgetting that without Syria we are nothing. I admit I do not support the regim in Syria, but I also believe there is a wider agenda being played by the west and Isreal.. its not an easy decision, but when you look at it in a normal sense you wouldn't want your own to harm you and would take offence to it a lot more than the stranger. I say allow operation bumble bee to take place, but I am already sorry for the lives that will fall.. with love
over 12 years
Ready to repulse attacks from any civilian.
p.s. bomb Syria
over 12 years
Agreed with "no comments" regarding the updated systems and yes to confirm they did receive the S300 which alone has nato and israel thinking twice about their moves, that aside any strategist with a sane mind and simple comparison would know to consider this:
Ghadafi in Libya had zero air defense zero amount of proper training for its troops no support whatsoever from any country, plus a whole lot of nothing militarily other than a few aks and rpg's, and it took nato what 8 months to "secure a passing" , with a few rebels on the ground doing the fighting, so just imagine what would happen if they try this on syria, so saying it'll all be over in a few days or hours is just laughable and goes to show how much you don't know, besides syria iran have defense pack agreement so if syria is hit iran will join and burn the gulf while they are at it, not to mention russia and china, they will surely not sit there while nato enters their backyard.
over 12 years
@ "Peoples". Can you enlighten us how it would take only 45 min to destroy Syria? operation bumble bee? it sounds like another android version similar to the ice cream sandwich. I've mentioned previously that Syria, has acquired yakhont anti ship cruise missiles, those missile fly lower than radar ranges, above water levels only few meters, and it's very hard to detect them. if Nato destroyers or US fleet is within this range, you may say they are in big risk to be hit by one of these cruise missiles. and if Syria is attacked, it's for sure that several missile (anti ship) are ready to be launched from Lebanon, Russian Navy will definitely locate US carriers and pass these info to Syria, they may load one fighter jet to carry on an attack, or simply lunch it through a costal installation.
Any attack on Syria, would be devastating and I can say a new ww3. they are weakening Assad now by weakening his army, other than this, no military actions against Syria, all talks.
over 12 years
NoComments: what air defenses are you talking about? Israel flew into Syrian air space, bombed a suspected nuclear site, and flew out - all in broad daylight, and not a single shot was fired at them!
over 12 years
@LebExile, they flew into the airspace so ? you think they are so stupid now to shoot down a fighter jet and declare war? that nuclear site was still under construction, they are smarted than you think... You gotta keep yourself up to date, Russian generals were commenting on that site attack saying that Syria didn't have the Pantsir s1 system ,they only received them newly, and they said half of the israeli jets wouldn't have had to see their way back home... this is other than hundreds of static air defense systems, and other than several hundred mobile air defense system... don't let such an event fool you, you think they didn't fire any shot, because they are smarted than you think ! they won't give them any excuse to devastate the situation.
over 12 years
@Lebexile
two things the S300 world's most advanced air defense system and yes thats a fact has only been delivered to Syria the past few weeks during the time Nato were "considering" a no fly zone, so russia moved in with the deal and gave them a pause.(please there's something called google do some research before posting).
secondly true israel did strike but its a game, either they didn't see them something which i have mixed doubts about, or they did and decided not to do anything about perhaps not to escalate the situation further, or they just couldn't do anything about it at the time to prevent it, while that doesn't make much sense but then again what does in this region.
I also want to add to those who say the Syrian army are "idiots how can they make this work" you forget that when a deal goes through so does russian/iranian personnel among other things to heavily train or be present on the ground during such events.
over 12 years
We never see any war games to fight israel, army designed to fight the people and keep the mafias in power, that is the true role of the syrian "army"
over 12 years
"Along with the missiles, Russia has installed advanced radar systems in all key Syrian military and industrial installations. The radar system also covers areas north and south of Syria, where it will be able to detect movement of troops or aircraft towards the Syrian border. The radar targets include much of Israel, as well as the Incirlik military base in Turkey, which is used by NATO.
The S-300 system is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems available. The system's radar is able to simultaneously track up to 100 targets while engaging up to 12. Deployment time for the S-300 is five minutes, and they have a very long life span, with no maintenance needed.
Russia had attempted to sell the system to Iran, but that sale was cancelled due to pressure by the U.S. and Israel, with Russia returning Iran's deposit. According to the report, the Iranians paid for Syria's S-300 missile system. It is not known if some of the missiles have reached Iran as well."
over 12 years
"By deploying 70 ship-borne fighter-bombers plus three heavy guided missile cruisers and five guided missile destroyers opposite Syria, Washington has laid down military support for any intervention the Arab League in conjunction with Turkey may decide on."
http://www.debka.com/article/21521/
over 12 years
Turkey alone (with an international cover of course) can swallow Syria in 24 hours... so shhhhhhhhtt
over 12 years
Now we need some of those anti air missile systems and radars here in leb, maybe that would give a big pause to our own "military foreign intervention problems" a little, in 2006 99 percent of damage caused in lebanon were from airstrikes alone which faced no challenges whatsoever, if those systems are installed in leb and trained to be used properly they would help balance out that war game a little. which would mean minimum to none air violations or strikes, which in turn would push for a more peaceful coexistence so to speak, the only way peace seems to work these days is by showing some "balls" backed by the means to do so, a bully only understands force.
over 12 years
Before the 1982 israeli invasion, the syrian regime asked KSA for $200MM to buy new tanks so they can confront the isrealis when the war starts. KSA asked about the type of tanks the syrians wanted to buy, so the syrians told KSA that these tanks are specially made for the syrian army, as they have 4-speed backward and one-speed forward. KSA asked the syrians why do they need new tanks with one-speeed forward, so the syrians answered in case the isrealis attacked them from behind.
90 guys in Zahle destroyed 45 syrian tanks. Don't hold your breath... the syrian dis-army is used to running away when the action starts.
Let them take back their Joulan if they are that good...
over 12 years
The Libyan tragedy, caused by the OBAMA/NATO Humanitarian war on Libya, should have become a lesson of none intervention in sovereign nations internal policies. Nevertheless, the same strategy theat ended in the destruction of all of the public services in Libya, now are being applied to Syria by the UN and the biased media. It is time to stop POLICING the selected countries, considering that Russia, China and other countries have made clear their decision to go to WAR, if Syria and/or Iran should be attacked by NATO/US.
No country has a "Real" anything when it kills its own people. Dont know why Syria wants to flex its so called military power when everone knows the US and UK could take it out in a week, which could still happen unfortunatly.