(Zaman Al Wasl)- Zaman al-Wasl obtained new satellite images showing Russian army build-up in the Syria coastal region along with stationing new air defenses systems.
The move followed a series of drone attacks last January against Hmeimim air base, the headquarters of Russia’s military operations in Syria, and on the nearby Russian naval base at Tartus.
Russia said that it shot down seven of the 13 drones and used electronic countermeasures to safely bring down the other six. It said no serious damage was caused.
Sources told Zaman al-Wasl that the Russian deployment is also over concerns of imminent US strike.
The images show that a new Russian air defense base was built near the port of Tartus where the Russian has stationed Pantsir-S2 defense system which is a combined short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti- aircraft artillery weapon". S-400, the anti-aircraft weapon system was also stationed in the Hmeimim and Tartus bases.
Russia also has stationed Pantsir-S2 defense system in Masyaf town in Hama province.
President Donald Trump threatened a military strike against Syria and declared on Monday that Russia or any other nation found to share responsibility for Saturday's apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians will "pay a price."
The White House sharply rejected any suggestion that Trump's own words about pulling U.S. troops out of Syria had opened the door for the attack, which killed more than 40 people, including children.
Trump, asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin bore any responsibility, responded, "He may, yeah, he may. And if he does it's going to be very tough, very tough." He added, "Everybody's gonna pay a price. He will. Everybody will."
Amid the tough talk from the White House, the U.S. military appeared to be in position to carry out any attack order. A Navy destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, was underway in the eastern Mediterranean after completing a port call in Cyprus. The guided missile destroyer is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, the weapon of choice in a U.S. attack one year ago on an airfield in Syria following an alleged sarin gas attack on civilians.
The Russian military, which has a presence in Syria as a key Assad ally, said its officers had visited the weekend site in a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian capital, and found no evidence to back up reports of poison gas being used. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, accused Washington of deliberately stoking international tensions by threatening Russia in a tone "beyond the threshold of what is acceptable, even during the Cold War."
Russia has supplied the Syrian regime with high advanced weapons and ammunition, including toxic gases, during its deadly offensive on Eastern Ghouta suburbs, a military source told Zaman al-Wasl Sunday.
The weapons, which had been stored in Al-Dumayr and Al-Seen military airports in March, east of the capital, included (toxic gases, cluster bombs, white phosphorous, Incendiary bombs).
Al-Seen, or Sayqal airport, is the most important airport in Syria and one of the largest military airports in Asia.
Russia has restricted the use of its weapons to special attacks under its command.
More weapons have been transferred since March until now, according to the source, to depots under the supervision of a special technical group responsible for the receipt and storage and loading on aircraft and directly follow to General Bassam Haider, the commander of the Division 20 in Al-Dumayr town.
Zaman Al Wasl
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