Russia is having a bad couple of weeks in Syria
Reuters
For the most part, Russia's incursion into Syria has met with wild success militarily.
Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, seems stronger than ever and the US has been relegated to a role on the sidelines of Syria's fate.
This excursion has allowed Russia to flex its military might in a number of ways that could woo over potential clients for foreign military sales, if not for one problem: Moscow's equipment keeps breaking down catastrophically.
Earlier this week, Russia lost yet another fighter jet off its aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov. That's at least the second one since the carrier began it's first-ever combat deployment in November. Satellite photos now suggest that Russia has entirely given up on using the carrier to launch strikes.
Another huge blow to Russia's military credibility came on December 4, when footage tweeted by Rami al-Lolah showed what appeared to be Russia's vaunted S-300 missile defense system catastrophically malfunction in Syria.
The S-300, in addition to the previously deployed S-400, were thought by experts to provide Russia with an almost impenetrable air defense zone within Syria and the Mediterranean. Even President Obama admitted that Russia's air defenses considerably limit the US's options in Syria.
Russia even went so far as to taunt the US to intervene against Assad while the S-300 was in place.
The footage below, however, suggests that the system has serious problems.
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/805455629427032064
Further #photos show the massive damage caused by a failed attempt to launch a missile from a #Russia|n most respected S-300 SAM worldwide.. pic.twitter.com/yUB2EYZQg9
Russia has also delivered the S-300 missile system to Iran.
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