Russian intervention in Syria: tactical successes and the spectre of a strategic deadlock

President Vladimir Putin received Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Kremlin on 21 October 2015. This was Assad’s first foreign trip since 2011. Meanwhile, Russian air forces continued air raids in Syria which they began on 30 September 2015. Their targets were mostly opposition groupings in western and north-western Syria, and not Islamic State, as the Russian mass media was claiming. In parallel to this, Russian diplomacy has been engaged in intense consultations on Syria: for example, the Russian minister of foreign affairs took part in a meeting with the US Secretary of State, the foreign ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and the European Union’s head of diplomacy on 23 October 2015. Earlier, on 20 October 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defence signed a memorandum with the US Department of Defence on avoiding incidents between the air forces of Russia and the anti-terrorist coalition in Syrian airspace.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background Information: The Russian operation in Syria: an offer or a blackmail? http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-russian-operation-in-syria-an-offer-or-a-blackmail/

ESO: Background information: Lessons from Russia’s intervention in Syria http://www.europeansources.info/record/lessons-from-russias-intervention-in-syria/

OSW: Centre for Eastern Studies: Publications: Analyses, 07.10.15: The Russian operation in Syria: the consequences for the region http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2015-10-07/russian-operation-syria-consequences-region

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