A formation of seven Russian An-124s landed at the air base in Latakia, a Mediterranean port city in Syria. Two other landing ships arrived at the Tartus base, a powerful Russian Syrian outpost, with dozens of armored vehicles and 50 marines. And it is only a foretaste of the forces that the Russians could deploy in a few hours, considering the two operational war fleets, that of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, in the Region.
The Syrian chessboard is complicated and not a little after the failure, by now clear, of the Obama administration's strategy for the hoped-for peaceful dismissal of Bashar Assad in favor of a democratic government. The president is not only in power (although half of his country is not under his real control), but he has received political and military support from his historic ally: Moscow.
The arrival of the Russians has demonstrated the failure of the entire American strategy in Syria: from the moderate rebel force trained and equipped by the US, to efforts to resolve the ongoing war. Russian forces would already be engaged in support of Assad's troops.
According to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, military supplies sent to Syria fall under the heading "existing contracts". He also added that "Moscow will continue to help the Syrian government, equipping the army with everything that will be needed to prevent a possible Libyan scenario".
Moscow is likely to be preparing a powerful land force (specnaz cannot be ruled out that they were ready to go into action in Egypt) supported by heavy assault helicopters. This represents the first operational theater of Putin's new Russia. Expect, therefore, massive reinforcements arriving in the next few hours, although it is not clear how much Russia is willing to risk to protect Assad.
And the American strategy, today is more confused than ever. To understand how the Pentagon is still undecided about the "new" Syrian issue, it would be appropriate to cite a given. The US Congress has invested 42 million dollars to train a moderate rebel force. That program, to date, has allowed 54 fighters to be trained. Soldiers who, according to the Pentagon, were killed. Even if they were still active (waiting for the others still in training), these units never represented a credible operating force in Syria.
It is clear that this is an excellent time for Assad, potentially ready to strengthen his position with Russian involvement. Perhaps, in hindsight, US forces would have had to get rid of the Syrian leader in unsuspected times, perhaps by supporting the Free Syrian Army and a no-fly zone.
Maybe. Now the Russians took to the field.
(photo: Russian Fed. MoD archive)
