Some believe that Israeli pressure on Moscow has worked, at least for now. It appears Moscow has placed a Mikoyan MiG E31 deal with Syria on hold. A Russian media report quoting Russian defense officials reported on Wednesday that the deal to provide Syria with the state-of-the-art fighter jets is being held back for now.

Russian reports however do not attribute the delay to pressure but to the high price of the package, seemingly more than Syria can presently afford.

In 2007, Russia signed a deal with Syria for $400-$500 million for eight of the Russian-made planes. Apparently Syria still owes $3.6 billion, enough of a sum to put the brakes on the deal.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)