by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov confirms Russia has experts on the ground in Syria • White House says closely monitoring the situation, Russia calls intensified military activity "routine" • Iran lets Russia use its airspace for Syria-bound aircraft.
Election poster of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
The U.S. and Russia confirmed on Wednesday
that Russian forces have begun participating in military operations in
Syria in support of government troops. U.S. officials said Russia sent
two tank landing ships and additional cargo aircraft to Syria in the
past day or so and deployed a small number of naval infantry forces.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
admitted Russia had "experts" on the ground in Syria, its long-time ally
in the Middle East.
Speaking to Reuters on condition they not be
identified, three Lebanese sources familiar with the political and
military situation in Syria gave the most forthright account yet from
the region of what the United States fears is a deepening Russian
military role in Syria's civil war, though one of the Lebanese sources
said the number of Russians involved so far was small.
The U.S. officials, who also spoke on
condition of anonymity, said the intent of Russia's military moves in
Syria was unclear. One suggested the focus may be on preparing an
airfield near the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of Syrian President
Bashar Assad.
U.S. officials have not ruled out the possibility that Russia may want to use the airfield for air combat missions.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to
his Russian counterpart for the second time in four days to express
concern over reports of Russian military activities in Syria, warning
that it could fan more violence.
The White House said it was closely monitoring the situation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a
statement saying that the intensified military Russian activity in Syria
was routine. "Russia has never made a secret of its military-technical
cooperation with Syria. No reason for hysteria," the statement read.
Russia says the Syrian government must be
incorporated into a shared global fight against Islamic State, the
Islamist group that has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq. The
U.S. and Assad's regional foes see him as part of the problem.
"We would welcome constructive Russian
contributions to the counter-IS effort, but we've been clear that it
would be unconscionable for any party, including the Russians, to
provide any support to the Assad regime," White House spokesman Eric
Schultz said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
Syrian troops pulling back
Assad's forces have faced big setbacks on the
battlefield in a four-year-old multisided civil war that has killed
250,000 people and driven half of Syria's 23 million people from their
homes.
It should be noted that apart from Iran,
Russia is Syria's last remaining ally. Russia has provided Syria with
military equipment on several occasions since the Syrian civil war began
in 2011.
Meanwhile, Iran authorized use of its airspace
for Syria-bound Russian cargo aircraft after Bulgaria barred Russian
aircraft from crossing its airspace.
At the same time, the al-Qaida-linked Nusra
Front posted videos and photos on the internet this week documenting its
insurgents seizing the last Syrian airbase in the Idlib province in the
northwest of the country.
According to Arab media reports, the
insurgents took advantage of the difficult weather conditions resulting
from a severe sandstorm in the region and in a coordinated attack,
managed to seize the base and the airport within several hours, taking
hundreds of Syrian soldiers captive.
A monitoring group said this meant that
government-affiliated troops were no longer present in Idlib, most of
which slipped from government control earlier this year.
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=28213
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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