DEFENSE NEWS
Israel-Russia Brass Continue to Coordinate Over Crowded Skies in Syria
by Barbara Opall-Rome
March 31, 2016

Despite Moscow’s declared mid-March drawdown of forces in Syria, Israeli experts say Russian military presence there remains considerable — and potentially more lethal — as to warrant continued talks aimed at preventing operational clashes between Israeli and Russian airpower and targeting systems. A delegation of Russian military officers is due here the week of April 4 for another unannounced round of so-called deconfliction talks, sources here say. The talks, led at the level of vice chief of staff, come amid beefed up operations by Russian Ka-52 Hokum and Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopters and unconfirmed reports of nuclear-capable Iskander short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) — known in NATO as SS-26 — deployed near the Syrian regime’s coastal stronghold of Latakia. READ MORE