Syrian Air Defense System Destroyed by Israel Was Allegedly Unarmed (PHOTO)

During an overnight raid on purported Iranian positions in Syria, Israeli rockets hit a Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system.

A Russian military correspondent, Alexander Kots, has uploaded a picture of a Syrian air defense system, a Pantsir-S1, eliminated by the Israeli airstrikes.

“It’s written here that all the missiles had been fired (this can be seen from the burned pipes), the radar is not in the combat position, the missile hit point, the hydraulic rack is raised. That is, it simply had nothing to fight off with, it was waiting to be recharged,” he tweeted.

Фото уничтоженного Панциря.
Тут написано, что все ракеты отстреляны (это видно по обгоревшим трубам), радар — не в боевом положении, место попадания ракеты, гидравлическая стойка поднята.
То есть ему просто нечем было отбиваться, ждал перезарядки. Вопрос, почему молчали пушки. pic.twitter.com/IbK9ik1Tgb

— Александр Коц (@sashakots) 11 мая 2018 г.

Kots stressed that if it was in fact waiting to be recharged, Israel merely destroyed an unarmed system. The image suggests that the Pantsir-S1 was destroyed by an IAI Harop, a loitering munition, with previous allegations that the IDF might had fired Delilah cruise missiles, or Spike NLOS, a fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported, citing a military source, that the army’s air defenses had “shot down dozens of Israeli missiles, preventing most of them from reaching their targets,” however, some of the rockets managed to hit radars and an ammunition depot.

Israel, in turn, claimed that it had retaliated against Iranian forces in Syria, which had launched around 20 rockets at Israeli frontline positions. SANA released footage showing the moments when Damascus brought down Israeli missiles.

READ MORE: Israeli Minister Lauds Russia for Not Negotiating S-300 Deliveries to Syria

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Israeli fighter jets fired some 60 rockets at several targets in Syria in addition to 10 tactical surface-to-surface missiles.