Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Exclusive - It will be undoubtedly the first time that Lebanon's Hezbollah receives a qualitatively sophisticated anti-aircraft weapon able to destroy any aircraft within its effective range.

Hezbollah practically has three types of heat-guided missiles and two types of radar guided missiles, the maximum effective range of which is 8 km and 4 km vertically while the new weapon has a range of 20 km and 15 km vertically, respectively.

This system is SA-22 (pantsir S1) it has two radars one for detection and the other for guidance. It also includes optical detection and a guidance system, with four 30-mm cannons and 12 missiles all mounted on truck.

The system is the latest in the Russian arsenal and is owned by - or under order - for the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Iran, Algeria and Jordan.

Hezbollah's possession of this type of weaponry allows it to initiate any pre-emptive strike towards Israel, the Zionist entity. It gives Hezbollah the ability to neutralize the Israeli Air Force power, even for short periods within the effective range of the weapon, forcing Israeli air force to bomb from very far distances and high altitudes, aside from the fact that Israeli helicopters will not appear in the field.

The question remains, what number of platforms will be sent to Hezbollah? These numbers will up the stakes in any conflict, considering that the total platforms bought by Syria reached 40.

The reason for sending such weapons to Hezbollah owes to the size and force of the air strike that bombarded Syria last week, where about 20 – 36 Israeli aircrafts took part with the use of BLU-109 and GBU-28 bombs for the first time, causing massive destruction in the targeted sites.

Weapon Specifications: Each platform has 12 missiles with a maximum range of 20 km and a maximum altitude of up to 15 km. It also has four 30 mm cannon with 1400 shells with maximum range of 4 km.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah had announced last Thursday that his party will support any Syrian effort to reclaim the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel, days after Israeli strikes bombarded Damascus, under the pretext of bombing Syrian weapons being transported to Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said that Syria will send it new "game changing" weapons, stressing on Thursday that shipment of advanced weapons would serve as Syria's reaction to Israeli air raids.

In a televised address, Nasrallah said that his group is ready to receive such weapons, stressing "The resistance [against Israel] is prepared to accept any sophisticated weaponry even if it was to break the equilibrium [in the region]."