Russian President Vladimir Putin has informed his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad by phone of Moscow’s retaliatory measures in response to the downing of its Il-20 aircraft. Earlier on Monday, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia will deliver S-300 air defense systems to Syria.

Marwa Osman, a journalist, university Lecturer, political commentator and writer for several news outlets, gave her take on the promised delivery.

Sputnik: What kind of impact will this have on relations between Russia and Israel; Russia and the US and other players?

Marwa Osman: Well, I think the fact that Russia will finally deliver the S-300, we all know that the S-300 was never delivered due to the war, the global war that happened against Syria and for certain regional agreements that were made between Russia and Israel at a certain point, the S-300s were never delivered to Syria. But now, after the downing of the Russian aircraft, which was obviously due to provocations made by the Israeli war jets that were bombing Latakia last week.

They were actually bombing Latakia, Jableh and Tartus […] According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, after the downing of the Il-20 Russian aircraft, Russia apparently said “enough is enough,” specifically because there was an error in coordination for such an attack, because we know previously Israel used to give heads up for the Russian forces in Syria for any sort of attack or aggression it was about to undertake in the fight in Syria […]

What you are seeing now is the effect of the constant threats that Russia was telling everyone, not specifically Israel, in the region to stop provocations, stop illegal aggression against Syria, because Syria has won the war, Syria is actively now trying to implement a political deal inside of Idlib, especially after the meeting that happened in Tehran between Iran, Russia and Turkey […]

Sputnik: What will the actual delivery of these air defense missiles do to shift or to the balance of power, to the balance overall, of the parties involved in the Syrian conflict?

Marwa Osman: I think it’s a great development, a huge development, it’s great for the protection of Syria; it’s a huge development in the regional arena because it’s putting a red line for Israel, for the first time in seven years. We all know Israel has actually conducted more than 250 airstrikes, illegal airstrikes, against Syria, whether through violating Syrian air space or through violating Lebanese space for that matter. […]

When we listen to experts they say that when Russia says it “will deliver,” it most definitely means “it has already delivered,” and we have seen that in the statements issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense, when they said that the Syrian generals have already been trained to operate the S-300. So basically, the S-300 is there. The generals have already been trained to use them, so now, they will just start operating them.

The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect Sputnik's position.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.