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Kremlin Says Russian ‘Volunteer’ Forces Will Fight in Syria

MOSCOW — Russia signaled deepening intervention Monday in the Syria war, strongly hinting that its “volunteer” ground forces would soon be fighting there, as NATO officials warned the Kremlin after a Russian warplane invaded Turkey ’s airspace. Russia called the air incursion an innocent mistake because of foul weather, a claim that the Americans rejected. The unfolding developments reflected a dangerous new superpower entanglement in the war, which has left a quarter-million people dead and half the country’s population displaced since it began more than four years ago. The addition of Russia ground forces to the assaults already underway by Russian warplanes particularly threatens to undermine Turkey’s Syria policy, which aims for the establishment of a “safe zone” along the Turkish border where some Syrian refugees could return in the future. Russia and Iran have moved aggressively in the past few weeks to strengthen their ally, President Bashar al-Assad […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Aims to Put More Pressure on ISIS in Syria

Photo President Obama has ordered the Pentagon, for the first time, to directly provide ammunition and perhaps arms to Syrian rebels. Credit Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency WASHINGTON — The American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State has begun preparing to open a major front in northeastern Syria , aiming to put pressure on Raqqa, the terrorist group’s de facto capital, according to military and administration officials. President Obama last week approved two important steps to set the offensive in motion over the coming weeks, officials said. Mr. Obama ordered the Pentagon, for the first time, to directly provide ammunition and perhaps some weapons to Syrian opposition forces on the ground. He also endorsed the idea for an increased air campaign from an air base in Turkey, although important details still need to be worked out. Together, these measures are intended to empower 3,000 to 5,000 Arab fighters who would […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran Expands Role in Syria in Conjunction With Russia’s Airstrikes

Iran is expanding its already sizable role in Syria’s multi-sided war in the wake of Russia’s airstrikes, despite the risk of antagonizing the U.S. and its Persian Gulf allies who want to push aside President Bashar al-Assad. Politicians in the region close to Tehran as well as analysts who have been closely following its role in Syria say a decision has been made, in close coordination with the Russians and the Assad regime, to increase the number of fighters on the ground through Iran’s network of local and foreign proxies. The support also could involve more Iranian commanders, military advisers and expert fighters usually assigned to these units, these people said. “I know there is a major battle upon us and everything needed for this battle will be made available,” said Wiam Wahhab, a former Lebanese minister allied to Iran and Mr. Assad, who has some members from his […]

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Vladimir Putin Plunges Into a Caldron: Saving Assad

Photo President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Credit Remy De La Mauviniere/Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — After two days of attacks directed exclusively against insurgents opposed to the Syrian government, there is little question that Russia is determined to re-establish President Bashar al-Assad as Syria ’s leader. “Russia’s goal is to defend Assad; whoever is against him is a destabilizing factor,” said Aleksei Makarkin, the deputy head of the Center for Political Technologies, in Moscow. “Russia wants Assad to get engaged in a political settlement from a position of strength.” Yet to restore Mr. Assad to full control of Syria or, for that matter, to stitch Syria back together without putting troops on the ground, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will have to accomplish what no other outside power has dared attempt. Mr. Putin can achieve a number of short-term goals. By inserting Russian military forces directly into the […]

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Russia Carries Out Airstrikes in Syria for 2nd Day

Photo A vehicle at a base controlled by rebel fighters from the Ahrar al-Sham insurgent group that activists said was targeted by Russian airstrikes near Idlib, Syria, on Thursday. Credit Khalil Ashawi/Reuters BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a second day of raids in Syria , Russian warplanes carried out a new round of airstrikes on Thursday that once again — contrary to Moscow’s assertions — appeared for the most part to be targeting not the Islamic State but a rival insurgent coalition. However, anti-government activists, including the opposition news agency Khoutwah, or Step, reported Thursday night that what they believed to be Russian jets had struck the Islamic State-held town of Al Shedadi in Hasaka province, in Syria’s northeast. If confirmed, it would be the first Russian strike in undisputed Islamic State territory. The area is hundreds of miles from the sites of previous Russian strikes. Russia sent more than […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Assad allies, including Iranians, prepare ground attack in Syria: sources

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad answers questions during an interview with al-Manar’s journalist Amro Nassef, in Damascus, Syria, in this handout photograph released by Syria’s national news agency SANA on August 25, 2015. Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria in the last 10 days and will soon join government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies in a major ground offensive backed by Russian air strikes, two Lebanese sources told Reuters. "The (Russian) air strikes will in the near future be accompanied by ground advances by the Syrian army and its allies," said one of the sources familiar with political and military developments in the conflict. "It is possible that the coming land operations will be focused in the Idlib and Hama countryside," the source added. The two sources said the operation would be aimed at recapturing territory lost by President Bashar al-Assad’s government to rebels. It points to […]

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Russians Strike Targets in Syria, but Not ISIS Areas

WASHINGTON — Russian aircraft carried out a bombing attack against Syrian opposition fighters on Wednesday, including at least one group trained by the C.I.A. , eliciting angry protests from American officials and plunging the complex sectarian war there into dangerous new territory. Russia ’s entry into the Syrian conflict, foreshadowed by a rapid military buildup in the past three weeks at an air base in Latakia, Syria , makes the possibility of a political settlement in Syria more difficult and creates a new risk of inadvertent incidents between American and Russian warplanes flying in the same area. And it adds a powerful but unpredictable combatant to a civil war that has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a flood of refugees. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia justified his country’s entry into the conflict by saying that Russia was acting “preventatively, to fight and destroy militants […]

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Russian Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels, U.S. Officials Say

Russia launched airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, catching U.S. and Western officials off guard and drawing new condemnation as evidence suggested Moscow wasn’t targeting extremist group Islamic State, but rather other opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One of the airstrikes hit an area primarily held by rebels backed by the Central Intelligence Agency and allied spy services, U.S. officials said, catapulting the Syrian crisis to a new level of danger and uncertainty. Moscow’s entry means the world’s most powerful militaries—including the U.S., Britain and France—now are flying uncoordinated combat missions, heightening the risk of conflict in the skies over Syria. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Russia’s approach to the Syrian war—defending Mr. Assad while ostensibly targeting extremists—was tantamount to “pouring gasoline on the fire.” “I have been dealing with them for a long time. And this is not the kind of behavior that we should expect professionally from […]

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Putin plans air strikes in Syria if no U.S. deal reached: Bloomberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for unilateral air strikes against Islamic State in Syria if the United States rejects his proposal to join forces, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Russia has increased its military presence inside Syria and its arms supplies to the Syrian army as it steps up support of longtime ally President Bashar al-Assad, drawing warnings of further destabilization from Western countries that oppose Assad. A Russian diplomatic source told Reuters on Wednesday that Moscow sees a growing chance to reach international agreement on fighting terrorism in Syria and end the crisis that has stretched into its fifth year. Bloomberg reported that Putin’s preferred course of action was for the U.S. government and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple