USA concern about an expanding Russian presence in Syria reportedly led to Washington asking North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies to close their airspace to Russian military planes bound for Syria.
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Russia, she said, has never made a secret of its “military-technical cooperation” with Syria and has “long provided arms and military equipment in accordance with existing bilateral contracts”.
Mr Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin would talk about Syria and ISIS during his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York later in September.
The U.S. officials, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the intent of Russia’s military moves in Syria remained unclear.
Russia, however, says it has only sent weapons and military experts to the country.
One USA official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and asked not to be identified, told AFP that two tank-landing ships recently arrived at Tartus and that about a dozen Russian armored personnel carriers are at Bassel al-Assad Airport, which is named after the president’s older brother.
Reuters reported this week that Lebanese sources believe Russian troops have begun participating in combat operations in Syria and are setting up new bases there.
The U.S.is growing increasingly anxious over signs of increased Russian military presence in Syria and has warned Moscow to back off. “There are numbers of Russians taking part in Syria but they did not yet join the fight against terrorism strongly”.
“This is definitely a build-up straight out of Russia’s military doctrine”, said one official.
Lavrov said his American counterpart was concerned that Russia’s support for Assad would ultimately strengthen the Islamic State group because its sponsors would be forced to ramp up their military and financial support.
After the Bulgarian and Greek governments denied overflight rights to the Russian planes, the Russians shifted the flight path to cross the Caspian Sea and then across Iran and Iraq on the way into Syria.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his concern over reports of Russian military activities in Syria, warning that it could fan more violence, a state department spokesman said.
“Russia considers its task to give support to the Syrian authorities in the struggle against unsafe phenomenon such as the so-called Islamic State“, Peskov told reporters on Sept.10. Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean Sea is at Tartous on Syria’s coast, and protecting it would be a major strategic objective for Moscow.
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Russian Federation has said the Syrian government must be incorporated into a shared global fight against IS, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq.
