Consequently, this important military-political move was only natural, proving that Russian Federation and Iran are trying to be the decisive players not only in the Syrian conflict but also in the entire Middle East.
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U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner on Wednesday said that such a move is “not helpful” to the situation in the war-torn country, and Washington is assessing whether Russia’s move violated UN Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.
“The (Syria) problem grows deeper and more insolvable with time”. The “Islamic State” (aka IS, ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups are the most active ones in Syria.
In other words, by the time Russian Federation and Iran began speaking of the air base, Moscow had already guaranteed itself a reliable political base and a package of agreements with Iran on economic and social issues.
“The Russians did notify the coalition”, he said, adding that they “informed us they were coming through” airspace that could potentially put them in proximity of United States and coalition aircraft in Iraq or Syria.
The second is that Russian Federation is disillusioned by the U.S.’s vision of what constitutes “moderate” and “immoderate” opposition in Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday to discuss the operations.
Hebrew University’s Eldad Pardo described Turkey and Iran as two countries that see themselves as former and future empires and that with Russian Federation seeing itself as a superpower it is a case of all three engaging in tactical maneuvers and thinking they can outsmart the others.
As for the Russian bombers aircraft used in Tuesday’s airstrikes in Syria, another US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity said it appears they returned to Russia and not to Iran.
In Iran, the head of the country’s National Security Council was reported as saying that Iran and Russian Federation cooperate on fighting terrorism in Syria.
The question is, she says, will Turkey genuinely change its policy and at least accept Bashar Assad being in power for an interim period, and will we see indications on the ground of a substantial change in its policy?
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. Its only foreign naval facilities are in the latter two countries.
The deployment in Iran comes a day after Russia’s defense minister said Washington and Moscow were near agreement on the proposed military partnership.
Toner also suggested Russian Federation violated last year’s United Nations security Council resolution enshrining the Iran nuclear deal. The coalition cleared the way for the Russian airplanes to pass over Iraq on their way from Iran to Syria.
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The Russian planes flew over Iraq, apparently without the permission of Iraq’s government, a USA official said.
