“We, for our part, will continue to prosecute the counter-ISIL campaign with the same determination and in the same battle space as we have since it started in Syria”, he said. Representatives for the USA and Russia met on Wednesday to discuss the growing activity of Russian military jets over Syria. Russian Federation says its airstrikes are meant to weaken the Islamic State group and other terrorists in Syria, but Western officials and Syrian rebels say most the strikes have focused on areas in central and northern Syria where extremist group does not have a strong presence.
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Iranian and Syrian officials have long acknowledged Iran has advisers and military experts in Syria, but denied there were any ground troops.
Russian Federation and Iran are jointly expanding their role in Syria and Iraq against the proxies of Saudi Arabia and Turkey, in order to preserve the allied governments in Baghdad and Damascus.
The change is a recognition of the failure of Obama’s flagship anti-IS training program after a testy congressional hearing in September by U.S. General Lloyd Austin, who oversees the war against the IS, revealed that only “four or five” U.S.-trained Syrian rebels now remained in fight in Syria.
He said the Iranian fighters were arriving at Damascus airport and transported to a military base in the coastal town of Latakia from where they were deploying on the ground – mainly in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo province.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, another United States official said the drop included 50 tonnes of ammunition. Another senior Revolutionary Guards commander, Hossein Hamedani, was killed last week while advising the Syrian army near Aleppo. The declaration came at the same time as senior White House officials are devising a plan to implement local ceasefires in the country – a tactic that will work only if Assad is in place for negotiations.
On a regional level, Russian Federation and Iran fear that the fall of Assad would lead to a resurgence in Salafi jihadism in several other countries, partly driven by the movement of foreign jihadists now in Syria to new theatres of battle or to their home countries.
“Now they are taking cover behind Russian Federation since it is a super power and strengthens their position”, Alezzah said.
On Thursday, Syrian state television said its forces had seized two small villages in northern Hama, extending their push toward Idlib, which is controlled by a rebel alliance known as the Army of Conquest.
Later, the Pentagon corrected the number of U.S.-trained Syrian rebels now fighting the IS in Syria to nine. US Defence Secretary Ash Carter, however, adds that “they (Russia) continue to hit targets that are not IS”.
Mathew Henman, head of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre, said the Russian airstrikes against more moderate, nationalist elements of the opposition has facilitated IS territorial gains in these areas, ultimately “leaving the government and its allies principally in a conflict with hard-line, fundamentalist actors”.
Although the US administration has been quick to speak out against Russian airstrikes in Syria, it has done little to stop Russian military intervention.
Instead, the Obama administration would from now on support existing rebel groups. The rebels are backed by the USA, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, including a few ultraconservative groups and al-Qaida affiliates.
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The US-Russian “moral consensus” of 2002 is now a distant memory.
