DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 6, 2015, 12:03 PM (IDT)
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Russia started transferring dozens of advanced T-90 tanks to Syria,
debkafile’s
military and intelligence sources report. They were moved immediately
to two Syrian army fronts fighting rebel forces at the two most
important cities, Aleppo and Damascus, and are expected to be sent to
beef up the combined Syria, Iranian, Hizballah army poised to recover
Palmyra from the Islamic State.
The shipment to the capital was delivered into the hands of the 4
th armored division, Syria’s republican guard commanded by Gen. Ali Maher Assad, the younger brother of President Bashar Assad.
The attack on Palmyra in country infested by ISIS forces was scheduled
to have begun two weeks ago but was delayed for the arrival of the heavy
Russian tanks, among other reasons.
The T-90 weighs 46.5 tons and has a range of 375 kilometers, with an
average speed of 45 km per hour under battle conditions or 65 km per
hour on roads. It has three layers of defensive systems: composite armor
plates on the turret; Kontact-5 third-generation explosive reactive
armor on its front, sides, and turret that reduces penetration by
kinetic energy bombs; and the “Shtora,” or curtain, an electro-optical
active protection system that enables the tank to jam the systems of
antitank missiles.
The T-90 also has 12 smoke mortars, a 125 mm cannon and AT-11 Sniper
guided antitank missiles. The tank has proven itself in battle in recent
years in Russia’s wars in Georgia and Chechnya against forces not
unlike the Syrian rebels.
Until last week, Russia kept only a few T-90 tanks in Syria, mainly to protect its military bases around Latakia.
The new shipment, say Western military sources which are monitoring
Russian movements, will eventually replace a large part of the Syrian
army’s fleet of around 500 operational tanks, mostly T-72s - at least
half of which are positioned to defend the capital.
But the pace of delivery will be dictated above all by the time needed
for Russian instructors to retrain Syrian tank crews from scratch in the
use of T-90s in battle conditions.
It should be noted meanwhile that, while the Syrian rebels have
antitank missiles able to take out the T-72, they do not have advanced
missiles capable of stopping the much heavier, reactively armed T-90.
But the Islamic State does, having captured US-made antitank missiles
from the Iraqi armored divisions put to flight in June 2014. Some of
those advanced missiles may be presumed to have been passed to ISIS
forces in Syria.
For now, the Russian general staff shows no sign of preparing for a
wide-scale operation against ISIS in Syria, so the newly-delivered T-90s
are not immediately threatened from that quarter.
As far as Israel is concerned, the main worry is that Russian
instructors will also be assigned to train Iranian and Hizballah tank
crews in the use of the advanced T-90. Once they get hold of these
tanks, they will be able to attain their objective of beefing up the
Iranian-Hizballah front against Israeli defenses from southern Syria and
the Syrian Golan.
Israeli finds cause for concern in the constant expansion of the
Russian military presence and involvement in Syria. Preparations for a
very long stay are signified by new developments every few days. A
permanent Russian military presence in Syria would give Iran and
Hizballah cover for a standing military buildup in Syria. This would
confront Israel’s vital strategic interests with a major challenge.
