Russian sources say that no S-300 anti-aircraft missiles have been shipped to Syria as yet, rejecting claims by Assad that he had received the first shipment of the long-range surface to air missiles.

The news that the missiles had already begun arriving in the conflict-ridden middle eastern country caused a stir throughout the region and the world yesterday. The news caused worries that the delivery of those weapons would spark a region-wide arms race.

But Russian Defense industry sources say that shipment of the systems may not take place until well into 2014. Also, even though Moscow said that the 2010 contract will be honored and the shipment delivered, right now, there is no guarantee that it will ever happen according to those sources. But it was also made known that if Syria suffered further air attacks from neighboring countries or if a no-fly zone was initated over Syria, those shipments would likely be accelerated.

Israel has vowed to make sure that those missile systems would never become operational even if they were delivered.

Russian Defense Ministry sources say that even though Syrian soldiers would need to take part in weeks-long training in order to operate the system, that training would take place in one of Russia’s southern provinces. But, the system itself would be operational within five minutes of being delivered to Syria.

The anti-aircraft systems can track to a distance of 190 miles and can hit its target at a range of 125 miles, making the system a threat to Israeli airspace and the commercial airport near Tel Aviv. Israel has asked Russia to cancel the shipments to its northern neighbor.

Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that the delivery of the weapons to Syria would be destabilizing. Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are working towards getting the Assad regime and the opposition fighters to the negotiating table in face-to-face peace conference talks scheduled for June. The Assad regime has tentatively agreed to attend the talks, but the opposition still have not.