Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asked Russian President Vladimir Putin several times during their Oct. 16 meeting to have Russian air defense experts help Tehran understand (read: find ways to counter) the means by which Israel penetrated Syria's air defense network in a Sept. 6 raid , according to sources in Hezbollah. Moscow could chose to provide some overt assistance to Tehran, though Iran's badly degraded air defense system — like Syria's — likely requires more help than Russia is willing to offer. That Israeli air force (IAF) raid against Syria remains opaque. In the weeks since it occurred, however, it has become fairly clear that the IAF used a new electronic means to blind Syrian radars, perhaps from as far away as the Mediterranean Sea. Electronic warfare, especially when it comes to the suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), is nothing new.