Syria regime ‘has Russian missiles’

BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad said the regime has received the first shipment of sophisticated Russian anti-aircraft missiles, and the main Western-backed opposition group announced yesterday that it will not participate in peace talks – a double blow to international efforts to end the country’s devastating civil war. Assad’s comment on the arrival of the long-range S-300 air defense missiles in Syria, which was made in an interview with Lebanon’s Hezbollah-owned TV station, could further ratchet up tensions in the region and undermine any efforts to hold any peace talks. However, American officials said they have no evidence that the Assad regime has received a shipment of S-300s.