Sometime during the coming months Israel’s security cabinet is liable to convene for a dramatic nighttime meeting. Under this scenario ­ at this point, still an imaginary one – intelligence officials will present the ministers with new and disturbing information that had reached them: A new delivery of anti-aircraft missiles (S-330, SA-17 or SA-22) or Yakhont shore-to-sea missiles, has been identified in Syria.

It’s possible they were sent by Russia, under previously signed contracts between Moscow and Damascus. Such anti-aircraft missiles in the hands of the Syrian army are liable to reduce the advantage the Israel Air Force has in the northern skies, while the Yakhont, which is accurate and deadly, threatens all sea traffic to Israel as well as crucial infrastructure (like the gas wells and the Hadera power plant) near the shore. (Read more at Haaretz)