Russia’s military on Friday said a US strike on a regime air base in Syria was ineffective but announced Syrian air defences will be strengthened to shield the country’s key infrastructure.
“To protect Syria’s most sensitive infrastructure, a complex of measures will be implemented in the near future to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the Syrian armed forces’ air defence system,” Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
He added the strike had had an “extremely low” military impact, and fewer than half of the 59 reported US missiles had actually found their target.
“Only 23 missiles reached the Syrian airbase,” he said. The strike on the Shayrat airbase, ordered by US President Donald Trump, destroyed six planes under repair and several buildings, including a storage depot and radio station, he said.
“The runway, taxi ways and Syrian airforce planes at parking spaces are not damaged,” he said.
“The military effectiveness of the massive US missile strike on the Syrian airbase is therefore extremely low.”