The Hill:
National security adviser John Bolton warned Monday that a Russian delivery of a missile defense system to the Syrian government is a substantial escalation.
“We think introducing the S-300s [missile defense systems] to the Syrian government would be a significant escalation by the Russians and something that we hope, if these press reports are accurate, they would reconsider,” Bolton said, according to The Associated Press.
Russia announced earlier Monday that it would give the Syrian government the S-300 after Syria’s current missile defense systems accidentally downed a Russian plane last week.
Russia blamed the incident on “misleading information” from the Israeli air force.
Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Israeli command warned on the day of the incident that it would strike the “north of Syria,” according to Agence France-Presse.
