WATCH: Israel used new supersonic missiles to evade Russian S-300s in Syria

Israel had urged Moscow a number of times to put off the delivery of the S-300 to the Syrian regime.

By World Israel News Staff

The Israel Air Force (IAF) reportedly has successfully employed new supersonic Rampage stand-off air-to-surface missiles for the first time during an apparent recent airstrike on Syrian military positions, writes the Defence Blog online military magazine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have been hinting in a speech on Sunday that Israel was, in fact, responsible for a number of strikes on sites around Masyaf, a city in northwestern Syria, in the predawn hours of Saturday morning.

“We are continuing to operate on all fronts, including the northern one,” said the prime minister, as he addressed an event in Jerusalem for families of fallen IDF soldiers.

Satellite imagery analysis company ImageSat confirmed that a base in Masyaf had been hit, Defence Blog notes.

Military analyst Babak Taghvaee is cited as one of the sources reporting that the Rampage might have been employed in the attack.

“The Israel Air Force successfully used Rampage for [the] first time. Due to the danger of [the] Syria Air Defense Force’s S-300PM-2s,” said Babak Taghvaee, the IAF “had to use the rocket to target a ballistic missile factory and weapon warehouses of IRGC [the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps] proxies in Masyaf.”

“Rampage is a supersonic all-weather day/night ASM [air-to-surface missile] with a stand-off range of hundreds of kilometers,” Boaz Levy, General Manager and Executive Vice President of the Rockets and Space Group of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) told Jane’s in an interview last year.

The missile can be adjusted to the Israeli F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets to be used against anti-aircraft batteries, an enemy’s headquarters, armament stores, and logistic bases, among other targets, Defence Blog reports.

ImageSat satellite images published in February showed that launchers for the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system had been deployed in Syria.

Israel had urged Moscow a number of times to put off the delivery of the S-300 to the Syrian regime and, in fact, it had been delayed.

In October 2018, however, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that four S-300 launchers had arrived in Syria.

An IAI video from 2018 shows off the advanced capabilities of the Rampage system.