Syrian air defense capabilities – The majority of Syria’s air defense systems — as many as 500 defense positions and 400 operational aircraft — are said to be positioned along Lebanon’s border, in the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan Heights, along the Syrian Mediterranean coast and in and around Damascus. They include aircraft, interception missiles, radar and other equipment.
The head of Syria‘s air defenses has been killed in a running gun battle near the capital, Damascus with US backed rebels, who have tried repeatedly in the past to assassinate him.
An unconfirmed source within the Syrian government said Lieutenant General Hussein Ishaq had been killed as rebels attacked an air defense installation near the town of Mleiha on Saturday.
Mleiha is strategically located near regime-held Jaramana, which frequently comes under rebel shelling and attacks. It is a rebel held and controlled area where the Syrian military is engaged in heavy fighting against the terrorists, including elements of al-Qaida and other radical Islamic terrorist organizations, backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also “confirmed Ishaq’s death”, which is being widely reported across the Middle East.
See article: http://www.dawn.com/news/1107104/syrian-air-defence-chief-killed-in-fighting
Unconfirmed Syrian Army sources say General Ishaq was “a tireless fighter against the foreign terrorists and played a role in upgrading and improving Syrian air Defenses against what was seen as an impending attack against the United States military.”
While the source refused to get into details Gen. Ishaq’s plan involved hundreds of hours of studying the air campaigns strategies conducted by the United States in Bosnia, Iraq and Libya and determining what types of defenses work in such a situation and what doesn’t. This in an effort to maximize limited resources and insure survive ability of Syrian air defense capabilities in the event of war with the United States.
Gen. Ishaq may have also played a role in an ambitious plan to take the fight to the US mainland if Syria is ever attacked.
See article: Syrian special forces poised and ready to attack inside the US in the event their country is bombed https://groundreport.com/syrian-special-forces-poised-and-ready-to-attack-inside-the-us-in-the-event-their-country-is-bombed/
Ishaq’s death is seen as a major blow against the Assad regime, which is scrambling to find a replacement for the general.