Narrative warfare: Russia now claims Syria intercepted 83 missiles, captured 2

After a joint ballistic missile offensive mounted by the United States, United Kingdom and France destroyed three facilities allegedly integral to Syria’s chemical weapon infrastructure, the Russian military quickly claimed that the Soviet era missile defense systems employed by Bashar al Assad’s Syrian regime had successfully intercepted 71 of 105 inbound missiles, effectively neutering the attack before it could do any actual damage. The Pentagon, as well as third party commercial satellite imagery, both countered those claims with evidence that the offensive was a success — but now one Russian general has upped the ante on their claims.

On Wednesday, Russian General Sergei Rudskoi claimed that the original figure of 71 downed missiles was indeed incorrect, saying instead that Syrian defenses successfully intercepted 83 inbound missiles, with two more failing to reach the target on their own. According to the general, those two failed missiles were captured and transported back to Moscow where defense experts will use them to bolster Russian missile technology.