Everyone seems to be getting in on the act: United Kingdom prime minister, David Cameron accused Russia of “backing the butcher Assad”, while the U.S. claims that Russian involvement in the war will widen and elongate the conflict.
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The strikes, spanning nearly 1,000 miles of precision flight, were by far the longest-range attack by Russian forces in modern history.
Turkey and Russia are important trade partners and Turkey is strongly dependent on Russian gas imports.
In Iraq, the USA has been wary of helping to deepen Iran’s influence and has avoided coordinating with the Shiite militias, trying instead to boost the Iraqi military, while pressing the Shiite-led government to ease sectarian tensions with the Sunni minority.
A Syrian official says a ground offensive has been launched in central regions of the country amid intense shelling and Russian airstrikes.
Russian aircraft twice entered Turkish air space at the weekend and Turkey says an unidentified MIG-29 harassed its jets on Monday, prompting the foreign ministry to summon the Russian ambassador three times in protest. He provided provided a lopsided account of the battle, saying that as many as 50 government-aligned fighters had died and that none of his forces was killed.
“It is nearly completely unanimous that the Arab governments are against the [Russian] bombing campaign“, said Paul du Quenoy, a professor of history at the American University of Beirut who is now teaching at Hokkaido University in Japan.
He added: “Over Syria we’re taking action as necessary to ensure safe separation” of U.S.-led and Russian bombers. “That is it. We will keep the channel open because it is a matter of security and safety for our pilots”.
It would be nice to know whether the Russians briefly used their own radars (exposing valuable data about the way their antennas work to ESM platform operating in the same area) to spot the Predators or just got in visual contact with them and maneuvered to “intercept” the drones.
The Islamic State group is not present in the areas where the fighting is underway. Indeed, Moscow holds that all of Assad’s opponents are “terrorists” and has no compunction targeting Islamic and secular militias alike. In a brutal assault 14 months ago, Islamic State militants seized the air base and then beheaded soldiers loyal to Assad.
In an interview with France 24 last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he would “welcome” military strikes by Russian Federation in his country if Moscow made such a proposal but that hasn’t happened yet. “Four destroyers launched 26 Kalibr sea-based cruise missiles at 11 targets”.
The Kalibr supersonic cruise missile was deployed this summer for the first time after seven years of testing and development. However, there is still potential room for a disaster over Syria. He called the USA support in the fight “limited” and said he had expected “massive air power”.
Iraq may request Russian air strikes against ISIS on its soil soon and wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the United States in the war against the militant group, the head of parliament’s defence and security committee said on Wednesday.
While the Syrian army may score major gains with the help of Russian airstrikes, a strategic breakthrough is unlikely as Russia’s regional and global adversaries step up their support for rebel groups to neutralise the Assad government’s new advantage.
Carson offered a multilateral strategy that seeks to weaken both the Assad regime in Damascus and the Islamic State terror group.
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Davis, the Pentagon spokesman, said US military officials have seen “forward deployment” in that region of Russian troops, artillery pieces and multiple-rocket launchers.
