DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Russia has shipped a battery of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from Syria to a Russian port near Crimea, according to a satellite imaging company, in an apparent attempt to bolster its air defenses in the war with Ukraine.
ImageSat International (ISI) captured pictures showing the presence of the S-300 anti-aircraft battery at Masyaf, Syria in April, and the empty site left behind on Aug. 25 after the hardware was shipped to the port of Tartus.
Separate images showed the battery components on a dock at Tartus between Aug. 12 and 17. By Aug. 20 they had gone, and ISI concluded they had been transferred to a Russian vessel, the Sparta II, which left Tartus for the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
Data from Refinitiv Eikon show the Sparta II is currently in Novorossiysk, having arrived via Turkey’s Dardanelles Strait.
The Russian defence ministry declined to comment.