Israel Claims Egypt Set to Buy Russian S-300

Insists it has no issue with the purchase since it does not view Eypt as an enemy

RI Staff4 hours ago |410 16

S-300 is an advanced defence system and this would be a major deal. At the same time the US has been a long standing arms exporter to Egypt and has a close relationship with Egyptian military. Therefore the question posed by many is, why is Egypt buying Russian, rather than American?
Reuters reports.

A senior Israeli intelligence official who tracks the regional arms balance said on Wednesday that Egypt was buying Russia’s advanced S-300 air defense system, a deal reported in Russian media but not confirmed by Cairo.
Asked about the Israeli remarks, an Egyptian official reached by Reuters did not corroborate them but said that Israel should not feel threatened.
“If we are getting such a thing, it’s because we’re looking east, not north,” the official told Reuters, in an apparent reference to Iran, whose nuclear and missile programs worry many in the Arab world, as they do Israel.
An Egyptian military spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the Israeli remarks.
In a state of stable albeit cold peace since 1979, Israel and Egypt have in recent years stepped up security coordination against Islamist militants.
But while Israel has encouraged the United States to arm Cairo against Islamist insurgents in the Egyptian Sinai, it has been less pleased with prospects of its southern neighbor acquiring strategic weapons systems.
In a March 6 report, the Russian news agency TASS said Egypt would receive the Antey-2500 missile system, an S-300 variant, and put the value of the contract at more than a billion dollars.
Russian authorities have also not confirmed the S-300 deal.
Asked during a briefing with foreign journalists about the Russian media reports, the senior Israeli intelligence official, who could not be named under military secrecy regulations, said: “If you speak about the S-300, they (Egypt) are buying this system.
“I don’t know what kind of threat Egypt looks at when they decide to buy it, but we don’t see Egypt as the enemy,” the official said, adding that he hoped bilateral relations would continue to improve.

God dey