| Author (Person) | Domańska, Maria |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) |
| Series Title | OSW Analyses |
| Series Details | 07.10.15 |
| Publication Date | October 2015 |
| Content Type | Journal | Series | Blog |
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From 30 September to 5 October 2015, a Russian air force group based at Heymim airport, near the port city of Latakia in Syria, has made over a hundred sorties, almost exclusively attacking groups supported by the United States or the Arab states and Turkey, at least twice violating Turkish airspace. The choice of targets clearly indicates that Moscow’s primary objectives are to strengthen the position of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to demonstrate the powerlessness of the armed anti-Assad opposition’s foreign sponsors – primarily the US, but also Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Russian air strikes seem to be a preparation for a ground offensive by the Syrian army, the aim of which would be to extend and consolidate the territory controlled by the government forces in the north-western part of the country. The Russian air operation is part of an ad hoc coalition of Russia, the Syrian government and Iran (competing with the coalition led by the US), which has been created under the banner of the fight against terrorism in Syria, and the declared objective of which is to stabilise that country and the region. On 1 October Moscow ruled out joining the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) in its current form. The operation in Syria is the first open military intervention by the Russian Federation outside the area of the former Soviet Union, and is being presented in Russia as a sign of its rise from the position of a regional power to that of a global power, a move which temporarily strengthens the internal legitimacy of Putin’s regime. |
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| Source Link | http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2015-10-07/russian-operation-syria-offer-or-a-blackmail |
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| Countries / Regions | Middle East, Russia |
