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Russia Intervenes In Syria To Save Assad After Obama’s Deal With Turkey
The four-year-old Syrian war has a new player and it’s a strong one. According to several media reports and eye witness accounts Russia is preparing to enter the fray in Syria or has already started to participate in the fighting in the country.
The first indication that something important was about to happen were images of Russian warplanes and drones flying sorties over the Idlib province in northwestern Sytria. the images were posted by Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra on social media. The images of MIG-29 Fulcrum planes, the Sukhoi SU-27 Flanker, the SU-34 Fullback and the Pchela-1T drone were analyzed by experts of The Aviationist who found them trustworthy and used them in an exposure about the deployment of the Russian air force in Syria.
Russia had already hundreds of military advisors in Syria who are working with Assad’s army and Iran-backed Shi’ite militias such as Hezbollah. But now eyewitness reports confirm that the Russians are flying in soldiers who are actively participating in the war and are manning checkpoints in northern Syria. Reuters reported two tank-landing ships arrived in the port of Latakia last week, and that additional aircraft has been spotted flying to Syria. Russia is also reportedly setting up an air-traffic-control tower in the north of Syria and thousands of Russian soldiers are due to arrive in Damascus in the coming weeks.
“The opposition-linked website All4Syria seems to corroborate such eyewitness accounts. Many residents of Damascus, it claimed, have observed in the first three days of September a noticeable deployment of Iranian and Russian elements in the neighborhoods of Baramkeh, al-Bahsa, and Tanzim Kfarsouseh. The Venezia Hotel in al-Bahsa has been turned into a military barracks for the Iranians,” The Daily Beast citing All4Syria reported.
President Putin of Russia claims the Russian forces are coming to Syria to combat Islamic State. The Russians are in Syria to “create some kind of an international coalition to fight terrorism and extremism,” Putin said in reaction to questions of reporters.
The U.S. administration is not buying Putin’s explanation. State Department spokesman John Kirby responded to Putin’s statement by saying:
“Russia is not a member of the coalition against ISIL (Islamic State), and what we’ve said is that their continued support to the Assad regime has actually fostered the growth of ISIL inside Syria and made the situation worse.”
The only action the Obama administration has undertaken against the Russian military built-up in Syria until now is to submit a formal request to Greece and Bulgaria to close its airspace to Russian military planes. Bulgaria subsequently complied and closed its airspace to the Russian air force. Greece has said it will examine the request.
The real reason Russia decided to directly intervene in the Syrian war is the protection of Russian interests in the region.
Since it became clear that Assad is losing the war and now only controls 20 percent of Syria’s territory the Iranians stepped up their intervention but with little direct results. The demise of Assad’s regime would constitute a serious blow to Russia’s influence not only in the region but the whole area of the Mediterranean Sea. Russia’s only naval port in this part of the world is in the Syrian coastal city of Tartus.
This port is used to resupply the Russian navy without the necessity of Russian ships sailing through the Bosporus Strait near the Black Sea. Another reason for the intervention is the presence of important Russian intelligence collection centers in Syria.
The Russian move could be considered as a game changer.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which has close ties to Hezbollah, reported already that Israel has understood that Syrian airspace will be closed to Israeli planes as off now. The paper wrote that the Russian intervention must be seen as a show of strength to Israel and Turkey that intervened in Syria last month.
Al-Akhbar could be right in regard to Turkey. The agreement between the U.S. and Ankara that brought Turkey into the anti-ISIS coalition raised Moscow’s concerns about the future of the Assad regime. Putin is aware of President Tayyip Erdogan’s Ottoman aspirations in Syria and his hatred for Assad.
Another effect of Putin’s intervention will be that Assad will now be able to stabilize his defense and the chances he will eventually be able to consolidate his rule have suddenly improved.
The Russian actions were fully coordinated with Iran that aspires to expand its influence in the region.
The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) brigade Al-Quds Qasem Suleimani visited Moscow last month to discuss a coordinated strategic move that would save Assad’s regime in Syria and would drive Islamic State out of the country. His visit was illegal under the current sanction regime against Iran and came after a series of secret talks between Russian and Iranian diplomats.
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/russia-intervenes-in-syria-to-save-assad-after-obamas-deal-with-turkey/
