...
What about the danger of being drawn into wider involvement on the ground if, say, one of Russia's jets malfunctions and a pilot is forced to eject?
Wouldn't more ground troops be needed to rescue a pilot, especially one who falls into the hands of the Islamic State, which has shown its willingness to publicly torture enemy pilots to death?
"On the ground, Russian air group is relying on the support and help of the Syrian armed forces," Buzhinsky says.
As to whether that means the Syrian armed forces are providing force protection for Russians, "I hope so," Buzhinsky says. "I hope so."
Not everyone is so optimistic about Russia's prospects ...
The intensification of the conflict in the Middle East, the operation by Russian Aerospace Defence Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic and the diametrically opposed positions of state leaders in relation to the current president Bashar al-Asad continue to be the main events on the agenda. Damascus has become the epicentre of a global political process and a trial ...
... by the Russian Air Force and the Syrian Arab Air Force could be confused. In fact several days before Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch the anti-terrorist campaign Syrian Arab Air Force
was reported
using newly-arrived Russian planes to bomb Islamic State terrorists in the Aleppo province in northern Syria. Even large media organizations confirm that they cannot independently verify who carried out air strikes on several occasions. This means that at least a portion of air strikes ascribed to Russian-flown jets could in fact have been carried out ...
... maybe even longer. With all this in mind, what we heard after the ninety-minute talks should be regarded as a sign of progress.
Syria was the only issue on the agenda, or nearly so, that reflects the current state of Russian-US bilateral relations, in which ... ... nothing to do with cooperation in fighting a common enemy. The fact that both leaders are speaking about a coalition to combat the Islamic State points to different, not coinciding, approaches, since the two have their own vision of the coalition that should ...
... the Druze. Ayoub Kara, Deputy Minister for Regional Affairs and a Druze by origin, made it clear that should the situation with the Syrian Druze aggravate any further, Israel will not stand aside: "We are coordinating actions with our brothers in Syria and take care of them. If need be,
we will destroy
the Islamic State and Dzhabhat al-Nusra. “Tzahal will soon go into Syria and take Quneitra, which will become the center of the Druze state,” said another prominent Israeli politician
Munzer Safadi
.
Judging by the statements,
Tel Aviv is interested
...
It is theater shared by two parallel coalitions, i.e. the United States and Europe on the one side, and Russia, Iran and Syria on the other
This September, President Vladimir Putin has, on several occasions including during the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit, voiced Russia's readiness to act against the ISIS as part of a broad coalition incorporating countries ...
... government today.
The Assad government is guilty of terrible crimes. But a gradual evolution of Assad's dictatorship into a responsible government is at least as likely as a battlefield victory of "moderates" over Assad, al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State followed by their gracious acceptance of former enemies into a pluralist, inclusive Syria.
Every country has problems and every country falls short of its ideals. Like the United States, Russia is no exception to this rule. But right or wrong, Russia's positions on international affairs should be taken seriously in the west. Life and ...
... However, coercive diplomacy is just another form of diplomacy.
The current spike in Russia’s involvement in Syria, however, does not need to be linked solely to UNGA. Even without it, Moscow would now be sending more weapons and more instructors to Syria. As the Islamic State has expanded its control over more territory in Syria, it has posed more of a threat to the survival of the Russian-backed regime in Damascus. Thus, Moscow’s Plan A now is to help Bashar al-Assad keep his remaining strongholds; its ...
The events that took place on the border between Turkey and Syria in late July 2015 prompted Ankara to join the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). What is the significance of the decision?
On July 20, 2015, a suicide bomber attacked the Kurdish Amara Culture Centre in the city of Suruc, killing 32 people and injuring another 100. Two days later, in Ceylanpinar,...
On July 20, 2015 the Turkish city of Suruc on the border with Syria fell victim to an horrific terrorist attack that took the lives of more than 30 people and injured another 100 — young activists of the left-wing Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (Sosyalist Gençlik Derneği Federasyonu – ...
