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Post by Daniel on Mar 14, 2016 20:24:36 GMT -5
Putin Orders Start of Syria Withdrawal, Saying Goals Are Achieved
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ANNE BARNARD
MARCH 14, 2016
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday ordered the withdrawal of the “main part” of Russian forces in Syria, a surprise move that reflected what he called the Kremlin’s achievement of nearly all its objectives in the war-torn country.
The news upended expectations in Western capitals and among ordinary Syrians, setting off fevered speculation about Russia’s intentions, much as Mr. Putin’s unexpected military plunge into the Syrian battlefield five months ago changed the course of the war.
Perhaps the most urgent questions were how the move would affect the war’s outcome and what it meant for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whose rule had been increasingly threatened by a string of military losses before Russian forces backed him up.
The Russian decision could signal a new confidence in Mr. Assad’s stability or an effort to pressure him to negotiate with his political adversaries — or both.
Mr. Putin made his move at a particularly critical moment, as the upheaval in Syria enters its sixth year and a United Nations mediator in Geneva tries to revive peace talks to stop the war, which has displaced millions and created a humanitarian catastrophe.
continue reading
www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/world/middleeast/putin-syria-russia-withdrawal.html?_r=0
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Post by Daniel on Mar 14, 2016 20:28:18 GMT -5
Russia to withdraw forces from Syria
By Rebecca Kheel - 03/14/16
Russia will begin withdrawing its forces from Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday.
“I believe that the task put before the defense ministry and Russian armed forces has, on the whole, been fulfilled,” Putin said at a meeting with his defense and foreign ministers. "I am therefore ordering the defense minister, from tomorrow, to start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingent from the Syrian Arab Republic."
Russia began carrying out airstrikes in Syria in September. At the time, the Kremlin said it was doing so to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
But U.S. officials say Russia’s actions mainly propped up Syrian President Bashar Assad, and most of its strikes have targeted rebels and civilians.
In recent weeks, Russian strikes have been credited with allowing regime forces to advance on rebel-held Aleppo. The United States also blamed the strikes for derailing peace talks.
Putin’s announcement comes the same day the United Nations-led peace talks resumed in Geneva.
Russia will maintain an air base and naval base in Syria, Putin said. He did not give a timeline for a complete withdrawal from the country.
continue reading
thehill.com/policy/defense/272928-russia-to-withdraw-forces-from-syria
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Post by Daniel on Mar 16, 2016 11:17:46 GMT -5
Syria Opposition Says Russian Military Pullout Helps Peace Talks
March 14, 2016
-Strikes against terrorists to continue, Russian official says
-Putin says forces met objective of boosting peace efforts
Russia began its withdrawal of forces from Syria as the country’s opposition said the move will help peace talks in Geneva, while a top Russian military official said airstrikes will continue against terrorists.
The pullout ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a positive step which will help to move forward the negotiations,” Salem al-Muslet, chief spokesman for the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. Syria’s opposition wants to see “actions on the ground” supporting Putin’s announcement, he said.
Su-34 bombers are among jets that have left the Khmeimim air base in Syria and troops are “loading equipment, logistics items and inventory into transport” planes, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday on Twitter. Forces remaining in Syria are under orders to continue airstrikes against terrorists because it’s too early to talk about the defeat of terrorism, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said at the base Tuesday, according to a ministry spokesman.
Putin, whose military intervention last year in support of Bashar al-Assad’s regime turned the tide in Syria’s five-year civil war, ordered the partial pullout on Monday. The surprise move puts pressure on the Syrian government and opposition groups to reach a peace deal at talks that resumed in Geneva on Monday. Russia has urged the Syrian leader to be “constructive” in the negotiations to end a conflict that’s killed a quarter-million people, sparked a refugee exodus to Europe and allowed Islamic State a foothold.
continue reading
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-14/putin-orders-main-part-of-russian-army-to-start-syria-pullout-ilsa7fi5
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Post by Daniel on Mar 17, 2016 10:10:42 GMT -5
Russia to complete Syria withdrawal within days
By Arutz Sheva Staff
3/17/2016
Russia’s withdrawal from Syria is already underway and will likely be completed within a few days. The move, which surprised observers when it was announced this Monday, came with no formal explanation from the Russian government, and has left regional power scrambling.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met on Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The two spoke for three hours and discussed the fall-out from Russia’s impending pullout.
Russia will complete the withdrawal of the bulk of its forces from Syria before the end of the week, a top Russian general suggested in an interview published Thursday.
"I think this will be over very quickly. Within the time frame determined by (the president) and the defense minister. Today or tomorrow... within two-three days we will complete the task," Viktor Bondarev, the commander of the Russian Air Force, told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
The interview was published in the newspaper Thursday but put online late Wednesday. It was not clear precisely when the general made his remarks.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/209532
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Post by Daniel on Mar 17, 2016 10:41:52 GMT -5
Putin: Russia can make powerful Syria comeback within hours
By Denis Dyomkin and Dmitry Solovyov
Mar 17, 2016
Vladimir Putin said Russia's military success in Syria had allowed him to order a partial draw down of forces, but stressed the Kremlin could scale up its presence again within hours and would continue to carry out air strikes there.
Speaking in the Kremlin three days after he ordered Russian forces to partially withdraw from Syria, the Russian president said the smaller strike force he had left behind in his closest Middle East ally was big enough to help forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad keep advancing.
"I'm sure that we will see new and serious successes in the near future," Putin told an audience of over 700 servicemen and military officers at the Kremlin ceremony. In particular, he said he hoped that Palmyra would soon fall to Assad.
Russian forces would continue to carry out air strikes against Islamic State, Al Nusra and other terrorist groups, he added, and would keep providing a wide range of aid to Syrian government forces.
Although he said his preference was for a negotiated diplomatic solution to the conflict with those opposition groups who had signed up to a ceasefire, he made clear Russia could easily scale up its forces again.
"If necessary, literally within a few hours, Russia can build up its contingent in the region to a size proportionate to the situation developing there and use the entire arsenal of capabilities at our disposal," said Putin.
continue reading
www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-putin-idUSKCN0WJ1D4
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Post by Daniel on Mar 21, 2016 13:38:15 GMT -5
Well protected military bases to remain in Syria – Kremlin spokesman
21 Mar, 2016 RTNews
President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria, but the Khmeimim and Tartus bases are to stay, properly protected, the president’s spokesman said commenting on Startfor’s analysis of the Russian task force remaining in Syria.
“I just want to remind that the president has taken the decision to pull our contingent out, but to keep the temporary bases in Khmeimim and Tartus and maintain their security,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said, stressing that questions about it should be addressed to the Ministry of Defense.
Speaking to veterans of the Syrian campaign, who came to the Kremlin to be decorated with orders and medals for their service, President Putin said personnel still stationed at Khmeimim and Tartus bases will continue serving “effectively secured from the sea, land and air.”
“All components of the air defense, including short range Pantzir-F systems and long range S-400 Triumph systems will be on permanent alert,” the president said.
“All of our partners have been warned and informed: our air defenses will engage any targets we consider endangering Russian servicemen. I want to stress that – any targets,” Putin said.
continue reading
www.rt.com/news/336445-syria-russian-military-bases/
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Post by Daniel on Mar 30, 2016 8:52:12 GMT -5
Exclusive: Russia, despite draw down, shipping more to Syria than removing
By Maria Tsvetkova
Mar 30, 2016
When Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of most of Russia's military contingent from Syria there was an expectation that the Yauza, a Russian naval icebreaker and one of the mission's main supply vessels, would return home to its Arctic Ocean port.
Instead, three days after Putin's March 14 declaration, the Yauza, part of the "Syrian Express", the nickname given to the ships that have kept Russian forces supplied, left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for Tartous, Russia's naval facility in Syria.
Whatever it was carrying was heavy; it sat so low in the water that its load line was barely visible.
Its movements and those of other Russian ships in the two weeks since Putin's announcement of a partial withdrawal suggest Moscow has in fact shipped more equipment and supplies to Syria than it has brought back in the same period, a Reuters analysis shows.
It is not known what the ships were carrying or how much equipment has been flown out in giant cargo planes accompanying returning war planes.
But the movements - while only a partial snapshot - suggest Russia is working intensively to maintain its military infrastructure in Syria and to supply the Syrian army so that it can scale up again swiftly if need be.
continue reading
www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-supplies-idUSKCN0WW0DJ
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Post by Daniel on Mar 31, 2016 9:36:19 GMT -5
Putin withdrawing from Syria? Au contraire
By Ari Yashar
3/30/2016
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month ordered the "main part" of his forces out of Syria in a surprise withdrawal - but according to a Reuters analysis on Wednesday, he has since increased the deployment of equipment to the region.
Putin has continued his campaign to prop up Bashar al-Assad's regime even after the withdrawal announcement on March 14, and apparently he is intent on maintaining enough firepower on the ground to be able to rapidly escalate Russian actions if Assad is threatened.
Reuters notes that the naval icebreaker Yauza, a main supply vessel for Russian forces in Syria, did not return to its Arctic Ocean port after Putin's announced withdrawal, but instead three days after the declaration left the Russian Black Sea for Tartous, Russia's naval facility in Syria.
...
Russia pulled around half of its fixed-wing strike force from Syria in the days after the withdrawal was announced, according to Reuters, but an examination of shipping data, official information, info from naval sources and photographs by bloggers of Russian ships passing the Bosphorus strait show the military buildup in Syria is not being brought to a close.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210096
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Post by Daniel on Apr 1, 2016 9:53:20 GMT -5
Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missiles deployed in Syria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 30, 2016
Russia has deployed its most advanced tactical missile system, the Iskander-M, in Syria in the last few days, debkafile reports exclusively from its military and intelligence sources. The Russian Iskander is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has never been made available to any foreign army for operational use.
No nuclear-capable surface missiles were deployed in any Arab country bordering on Israel since 2007 when Chinese DF-21 missiles were installed in Saudi Arabia.
The Russian missiles (NATO codenamed SS-26) have a range of 500 kilometers (see map).
The Iskander’s transfer to the Kaliningrad enclave in the Baltic Sea in 2015, putting it in range of Central and Western Europe, was a mark of heightened tensions with the West over Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
Its deployment in Syria, amid a bloody five-year civil war, is a game changer in terms of the balance of strength in the Middle East. Its range - from the Russian Hmeimim base in western Syria - covers all of Israel up to the southern town of Beersheba, points in Turkey up to the outskirts of Ankara and the eastern and central Mediterranean including Cyprus.
The Russian decision to scale down its forces in Syria was only part of the picture: Warplanes and bombers are being pulled out, but as fast as they leave, they are being replaced by the most advanced missile systems in the Russian arsenal.
On March 15, Moscow announced that the formidable S-400 ground-to-air missiles would stay in Syria after the withdrawal. Ten days later, on March 25, the Iskander-M systems were in place. The Iskander-M is rated the top short-range ballistic missile in the world.
continue reading
www.debka.com/article/25333/Russian-nuclear-capable-Iskander-missiles-deployed-in-Syria
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Post by Daniel on Apr 2, 2016 9:02:10 GMT -5
Russia denies it agreed to dethrone Assad
By Ari Yashar
4/1/2016
Russia on Thursday denied reports earlier in the day, according to which it had reached an agreement with the US to dethrone Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad who it currently is propping up.
The report by the UK-based Arabic-language Al-Hayat cited a UN Security Council diplomat who leaked the basic outline of the agreement, indicating that Russia had agreed to have Assad step down from power and be exiled to another country. Reportedly US Secretary of State John Kerry had told several Arab countries about the deal.
But in a press conference later on Thursday, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the report.
"Al-Hayat published information which does not correspond to reality," Peskov said, as quoted by the Iranian state-run PressTV.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/210181
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Post by Daniel on May 20, 2016 11:21:52 GMT -5
Russia proposes US-led coalition to strike Syrian terrorists with Moscow – def minister
20 May, 2016 RTNews
Moscow suggests that the US-led coalition fighting against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria should fly joint missions with Russia in Syria, the defense minister said.
“Taking such a step would help the progress of the peace settlement in Syria. Of course such measures have been agreed with the Syrian Arab Republic. Yesterday we started negotiating these measures with our colleagues in Oman and Geneva,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told journalists, referring to a US center for peace negotiations based in the Jordanian capital and the city in Switzerland, where UN-backed peace negotiations are under way.
“We suggest to the US… starting on May 25, joint action of the Russian Air Forces and the US-led coalition forces to plan and conduct strikes against the Al-Nusra Front, which does not support the ceasefire, as well as against convoys of arms and fighters crossing the Syrian-Turkish border,” he said.
He suggested that the US and Russia should redouble their efforts to have moderate rebel groups pulled out from territories controlled by the terrorists, so that those rebels wouldn’t face Russian airstrikes.
Shoigu warned that, starting from next Wednesday, Russia would feel free to use its warplanes to attack any group that failed to back the ceasefire.
“Starting May 25, we reserve the right to unilaterally conduct airstrikes against forces of the international terrorist organizations and militant groups who didn’t join the truce,” the Russian minister warned.
continue reading
www.rt.com/news/343767-russia-us-coalition-syria/
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Post by Daniel on Aug 11, 2016 19:51:48 GMT -5
Russia planning permanent presence in Syria
11/08/16
Russia is planning to expand its airbase in Syria into a permanent military facility, a senior senator said Thursday.
Russia's Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia currently houses warplanes used in Moscow's bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Bashar al-Assad.
"After its legal status is agreed upon, Hmeimim will become a Russian military base. The appropriate infrastructure will be built and our servicemen will live in worthy conditions," Frants Klintsevich, the deputy head of Russia's senate committee for defence, told Izvestia newspaper.
Klintsevich added that the number of Russian warplanes based in Syria could grow but dismissed the possibility that nuclear weapons or heavy bombers could be permanently based in the war-torn country.
"Reconnaissance and fire support from the Russian air force allows the Syrian army to successfully complete the tasks at hand," Klintsevich said.
continue reading
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/216269
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Post by Daniel on Aug 17, 2016 19:58:40 GMT -5
China to play greater role in Syria while US ‘left out’
17 Aug, 2016 RTNews
Are we seeing the start of a new anti-Islamic State coalition with Russia, Iran and China’s involvement in Syria? How could it influence the balance of power in the region? What reaction could be expected from the West, particularly from the countries involved in Syria?
China is set to increase its involvement in the Middle East by providing military training and humanitarian aid in Syria.
The announcement came shortly after Russia said it had started using Iran’s Hamedan Airbase to launch airstrikes on terrorist targets in Syria.
RT discussed with experts the timing and significance of China’s decision to offer military help to the Syrian government. Is this the start of a new coalition, given that Turkey has also said it is going to resume its airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and asked Russia to carry out joint operations against the “common enemy.”
Michael Maloof, a former Pentagon official, noted that China has actually been in Syria “for quite some time.”
“China has always had a presence throughout the Middle East. You see it in Lebanon a great deal. But they are very quiet about it, very subtle. They have been providing military assistance and training to the Syrian Army. They are going to increase that now,” he told RT America.
continue reading
www.rt.com/op-edge/356281-isis-china-russia-iran-syria/
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Post by sevenofnine on Aug 18, 2016 13:47:21 GMT -5
Of course all Vlady was doing to protect a client he is Robert Sharpio of world leaders LOL!
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Post by Daniel on Dec 12, 2017 12:45:59 GMT -5
Russia will keep bases in Syria to strike at insurgents: Kremlin
Denis Pinchuk
December 12, 2017
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will keep a naval and an air base in Syria capable of carrying out strikes against insurgents if required after a partial military pull-out announced by President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.
Putin on Monday ordered “a significant part” of Moscow’s military contingent to start pulling out of Syria, declaring their work largely done.
...
The Kremlin has presented the partial withdrawal of its forces as evidence that its mission in Syria has been largely accomplished. That gives a boost to Putin as he launches his campaign for re-election.
Opinion polls show that he will comfortably win the presidential election, scheduled for March. But the Kremlin fears that, since some voters see the election as a foregone conclusion, they may not turn out, weakening Putin’s mandate.
Russia had previously announced a partial drawdown of its forces in Syria, in March last year. However, a powerful Russian contingent remained in place and there was little sign of operations being scaled back.
read full article
www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-withdrawa/russia-will-keep-bases-in-syria-to-strike-at-insurgents-kremlin-idUSKBN1E610F
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Post by Daniel on Dec 13, 2017 10:59:22 GMT -5
Under Putin, Russia increases clout in the Middle East
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV and Zeina Karam
MOSCOW (AP) — When Russia launched a military campaign in Syria two years ago, President Vladimir Putin sought to save his ally from imminent collapse and break Russia’s international isolation over a crisis in Ukraine.
He achieved that and more, emerging as a key stakeholder in the Middle East who has brokered deals with many of its key players — from Iran to Saudi Arabia to Turkey and Israel. It’s a regional footprint that comes with a degree of clout that even the Soviet Union, which depended on a handful of Arab allies, couldn’t dream of during the Cold War era.
...
While declaring victory in Syria, Putin made it clear Russia is there to stay. He plans to expand the air base and turn a crumbling Soviet-era naval supply facility in Syria’s port of Tartus into a full-fledged navy base capable of hosting big ships.
Russia has also drafted a deal with Egypt to allow its warplanes to use bases there — a deployment unseen since the times when Egypt was a key Soviet ally in the Mideast before going to the US side in the mid-1970s.
Courtney, the RAND analyst, said despite Putin’s successes in the region, Russia will remain a limited great power that serves mainly as a military supplier because it lacks the resources and capability that the West has for nation building or reconstruction.
“The challenge for Putin is to turn the use of his military force and military weapons supplies in the Middle East to something that is a lasting success, and we don’t yet see how Russia is going to get there,” he said.
read full article
www.timesofisrael.com/under-putin-russia-increases-clout-in-the-middle-east/
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Post by Daniel on Dec 13, 2017 11:26:03 GMT -5
Putin lands in Syria on unannounced visit to create false impression war is over
Dec 11, 2017
Putin staged his surprise visit to Syria and comments in order to generate the impression that the Syrian war was over – which he has been trying to do for some weeks – that it had ended in victory for the “Russia and Syrian militaries” and that the time had come for a political resolution.
He omitted mention of the Iranian and pro-Iranian Shiite militias, including Hizballah, their partners in combat on the ground, in which very few Russian troops took part. The main Russian contribution to Assad’s war was and is air support for those ground troops, who filled the depleted ranks of the Syrian army. In ordering the withdrawal of Russian units from Syria, Putin did not specify whether the air units were also being withdrawn. But his warning to “terrorists” still fighting in Syria indicated that in reality the war is far from over. Assad’s heavily reduced army lacks manpower for holding onto areas recently liberated from Syrian rebel forces and he is hard put just to defend his capital, Damascus. The Shiite militias fighting under Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders can’t do without massive Russian air and intelligence support
The Russian president also skipped reference to the US coalition fighting ISIS in Syria, including the Kurdish YPG militia which liberated Raqqa, pretending the “victory” was just down to the Russian and Syrian armies. But his presentation of the situation is bound to boomerang. The fact remains that US and Kurdish forces control parts of northern Syria; Islamist extremists groups led by the Al Qaeda-affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rule much of Syria’s largest province of Idlib, and motley Syrian rebel groups hold onto areas around Damascus. Southern Syria is pretty much the same sort of patchwork quilt. The Syrian war is therefore very far from over.
more
www.debka.com/putin-lands-syria-announced-visit-create-impression-war/
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Post by Daniel on Feb 3, 2018 10:07:29 GMT -5
Russia builds four new air bases in Syria, deploys another 6,000 troops
Feb. 1, 2018 Debka
Contrary to Moscow’s promises, the Russian military is not pulling out of Syria, but adding four more air bases (one shared with Iran) and 6,000 more troops.
On Dec. 11, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, announced that the Russian military was to withdraw from Syria to home bases. DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report that the reverse happened. A small number of units were indeed sent home, but they were sooner replaced, and instead of two bases – the air facility at Hmeimim and the naval installation at Tartus – four more Syrian air bases are being reconstructed and adapted for the use of the Russian air force.
1. The Tiyas Military Airbase (also known as T-4) in the Homs Governorate west of Palmyra, is the largest in Syria...
2. Palmyra (or Tadmor) Airport provides air support for operations in eastern Syria including the Deir ez-Zour province. Moscow has agreed to share it with Iran...
3. From Hama Military Airport west of Hama, the Russians will exercise control from the air of central Syria and the northern and central highways to Damascus...
4. Shayrat, at Homs (which became notorious as the target of a massive US Tomahawk attack last year) is the main landing site for air transports which bring the Russian and Iranian forces troop reinforcements, weapons and spare parts.
read full article
www.debka.com/russia-builds-four-new-air-bases-syria-deploys-another-6000-troops/
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Post by Daniel on Feb 21, 2018 11:32:09 GMT -5
Why Syria's messy war keeps escalating
Angus McDowall
Seven years in, Syria’s conflict has killed hundreds of thousands, driven millions from their homes, disturbed the regional balance of power and dragged in foreign nations whose rivalry has upset existing alliances.
It is that international element that has helped transform the war from a straight fight between Assad and rebel forces trying to overthrow the president into a mess of overlapping conflicts.
In the process, Syria has become a battleground for geopolitical rivalries, pitching the United States against Russia and Iran against Israel while inflaming the rift between Sunni and Shi‘ite Muslims in the Middle East.
WHAT DO THE DIFFERENT SIDES WANT?...
more
www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-explainer/why-syrias-messy-war-keeps-escalating-idUSKCN1G51UY
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Post by Daniel on Apr 20, 2018 7:02:43 GMT -5
Russian reinforcements head for Syria: Warships laden with tanks, military trucks and armoured patrol boats sail towards the Middle East as the world awaits Putin's response to airstrikes
By Jessica Finn and Jennifer Smith For Dailymail.com and Lara Keay For Mailonline
15 April 2018
Two Russian warships laden with military vehicles have been spotted en route to Syria after Friday's US-led airstrikes obliterated three suspected chemical weapons sites.
An Alligator-landing ship was pictured cruising down The Bosphorus on Sunday as the world awaits Vladimir Putin's response to this week's co-ordinated military action against Syria.
The vessel was spotted on its way to the Russian naval base at Tartus on the north Syrian coast.
On its fourth deployment of Russian military equipment to the war-torn country the ship was seen laden with tanks, trucks, ambulances and an IED radar.
A yellow RoRo Alexandr Tkachenko was also pictured heading for Tartus carrying high-speed patrol boats, a temporary bridge structure and several trucks. The images were posted on social media by Bosphorus-based naval observer Yörük Işık.
They come in wake of Friday's US-led campaign against Bashar al-Assad's regime and a chemical weapons attack that brutally murdered 75 civillians.
more
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5618609/Russian-ships-laden-tanks-seen-Bosphorus-en-route-Tartus-Syria-led-air-strikes.html
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Post by Daniel on Apr 25, 2018 9:33:38 GMT -5
'If Russian S-300s are used against us, we'll act against them'
AFP, 24/04/18
Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that his country would attack Russian S-300 air defense systems in Syria if they were used against Israeli targets.
His remarks came a day after the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Moscow could soon start to deliver S-300 systems to its ally Damascus, and cited a source as warning of "catastrophic" consequences if they were attacked.
"What's important to us is that the defensive weapons the Russians are giving Syria won't be used against us," Lieberman told the news website Ynet.
"If they're used against us, we'll act against them."
Russia and Syria signed an accord in 2010 for the S-300 system but the missiles have not been delivered because of Israeli pressure, according to Kommersant.
more
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/244922
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Post by Daniel on Aug 27, 2018 16:37:38 GMT -5
Russian Warships Heading for Syria
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
August 26, 2018
“You are My war club, [My] weapons of battle; With you I clubbed nations, With you I destroyed kingdoms.” Jeremiah 51:20
It was reported Turkey sighted three Russian warships passing through the Bosporus last Thursday en route to Syria.
Debka File, an Israeli military intelligence website, reported on Saturday that the armada, composed of the Krivak Class Pytlivy missile frigate, the Tapir class LST (tank landing ship) Orsk, and a landing craft, the Nikolai Filchenko. The Filchenko is the largest landing craft in the Russian fleet capable of transporting 300 soldiers and either 20 tanks and trucks or 40 armored personnel carriers.
“Debka File’s military sources conclude that the two large Russian landing craft consigned from the Black Sea to Syria are almost certainly carrying Russian marines or special forces for attacking rebel groups in Idlib from the sea or the coast,” the site reported.
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