Russia sent anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria to back up its air campaign, the commander of the air force Viktor Bondarev said in an interview published Thursday, according to AFP.
"We sent there not just fighter planes, strike aircraft and helicopters but also anti-aircraft rocket systems," Bondarev told Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid daily.
He said that Russia made the decision to bring missile systems to Syria because "we took into account every possible threat."