Vol. 79/No. 36      October 12, 2015

Moscow has also reached a deal to cooperate with the Iraqi government in sharing information about Islamic State. The agreement, announced Sept. 27, also includes Tehran and the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. U.S. officials were not notified beforehand, despite the fact that some 3,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq training its armed forces.

The Russian government has rapidly been building up its military presence in Syria, including sending the Syrian government fighter jets, helicopters and tanks. Moscow is reinforcing its naval base in Tartus and building a forward air base in Latakia — both on Syria’s western coast under control of Assad’s forces — and starting work on two more bases in the area. Over Washington’s objections the Iraqi government is allowing Russian military transport flights to Syria through its airspace.

“Russia will not participate in any troop operations in the territory of Syria or in any other states. Well, at least we don’t plan on it right now,” Putin said in a Sept. 27 interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

In its “reset” of relations with the Russian and Iranian governments the Barack Obama administration has dropped its previous call for the ouster of Assad, a longtime ally of both Moscow and Tehran. In his speech at the U.N. Sept. 28, Obama instead called for a “managed transition” away from Assad’s rule over an unspecified period of time.

The more than four-year-long civil war, launched by the Assad regime against opposition forces wanting to end his rule, has killed about a quarter of a million people while displacing more than half the country’s prewar population of 23 million. And Assad’s forces continue their use of deadly shrapnel-filled barrel bombs targeting civilians.

The Kremlin says its deployment is part of the fight against Islamic State, but its main function is to prop up Assad.  
 
 
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