In the wake of the West's strike on Syria, Russia is considering supplying Damascus with its advanced S-300 missile defense system, a Russian general said Saturday.
A U.S.-Britain-France coalition fired over 100 missiles at Syrian targets late Friday night, in retaliation for an April 7 deadly chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma, north of Damascus.
The Pentagon named the targets struck in the operation as the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, a government body responsible for research and development of advanced weapons systems; a chemical weapons storage facility west of Homs, which the U.S. believed was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment, and a military command post.
The strike outraged Moscow, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the strike as an "act of aggression," saying, "Russia in the most serious way condemns the attack on Syria where Russian military servicemen help the legitimate government to fight terrorism."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the actions of the U.S., U.K. and France in Syria as "unacceptable and lawless."
Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Saturday that Russia was considering equipping "Syria and other countries" with the anti-missile defense system, adding that Russia had "refused" supplying those missiles to Syria a few years ago over the "pressing request of some of our Western partners."
Following the U.S.-led strikes, however, "we consider it possible to return to the examination of this issue not only in regard to Syria but to other countries as well," Rudskoi said.
He noted that "in the past year and a half Russia has fully restored Syria's air defense system and continues to further upgrade it."
The S-300 is a long-range surface-to-air missile system designed to counter aircraft and cruise missile attacks.
