Syria Receives Russian Missiles System And Bank Transfer From Russia

Syria has received Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missiles despite recent grave opposition from Western countries and Israel.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made the announcement on Thursday on a public Lebanese television station, Al-Manar TV.

"Syria has got the first batch of Russian S-300 missiles... The rest of the shipment will arrive soon," president Assad said.

Earlier this week, Israel Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon condemned the actions of Russian officials for deciding to send anti-aircraft weapons to the Free Syrian Army just after the European union made the call to allow an arms embargo expire at the end of the month.

"If... [they] do reach Syria, we will know what to do," he said in response to Russia's decision.

Russia promised the delivery of the missile systems to help "stabilize the regional balance at a time of insurgency... waged by Western-backed rebels."

Officials in Russia have also sent a "bank transfer" along with the military weapons, according to Reuters, but also noted that Russian banks fear increasing talks with the Syrian president.

"There were some problems with payments because big Russian banks were scared of dealing with Assad, but there was a bank transfer," one source said. "There are also not big banks and banks that are not based in Moscow. Beyond the down payment there was almost certainly a second payment, maybe third."

The amount was not disclosed. Israel is the United States' main ally in the region.

The move to send monetary and military support to al-Assad and his army will continue to hurt the potential for effective peace talks in Syria's hostile territories.

Talks for a US-Russian peace conference to end the three-year civil war in Syria would happen in an international summit being called Geneva 2, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Syrian rebel forces of interfering with any movements toward peace.

"We are under the impression that the National Coalition (SNC) and its regional sponsors are doing everything so as not to allow the start of the political process and achieve military intervention in Syria through any means possible," Lavrov said.