Russia joins Syrian war

Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join a major ground offensive on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, Lebanese sources said last Thursday, a further step in the rapid internationalisation of a civil war in which every major country in the region has a stake.

Russian war-planes that joined the fight this week bombed a camp run by rebels trained by the CIA, the group’s commander said, putting Moscow and Washington on opposing sides in a Middle East conflict for the first time since the Cold War.

The US and Russian militaries held talks via video link on Thursday to seek ways to keep their militaries apart as they wage parallel campaigns of air strikes in Syria, a US defence official said.

Russian jets hit targets near the cities of Hama and Homs in western Syria on the second day of their surprise air campaign.

Moscow said it had hit Islamic State positions, but the areas it struck are mostly held by a rival insurgent alliance, which, unlike Islamic State, is supported by US allies including Arab states and Turkey.

Hassan Haj Ali, head of the Liwa Suqour al-Jabal rebel group, said one of the targets was his group’s base in Idlib province, struck by about 20 missiles in two separate sorties.

His fighters had been trained by the CIA in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, part of a programme Washington says is aimed at supporting groups that oppose Islamic State and Mr Assad.

“Russia is challenging everyone and saying there is no alternative to Bashar,” Mr Haj Ali said. He said the Russian jets had been identified by members of his group who once served as Syrian Air Force pilots.

Two Lebanese sources said hundreds of Iranian troops had reached Syria in the past 10 days with weapons to mount a major ground offensive. They would also be backed by Mr Assad’s Lebanese Hezbollah allies and by Shia militia fighters from Iraq, while the Russians would provide air support.

“The vanguard of Iranian ground forces began arriving in Syria, soldiers and officers specifically, to participate in this battle.

They are not advisers . . . we mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be followed by more,” one of the sources said.

Russia’s sudden decision to join the war with air strikes on behalf of Mr Assad, as well as the increased military involvement of Iran, could mark a pivotal turning point in a conflict that has drawn in most of the world’s military powers.

With the US leading an alliance waging its own air war against Islamic State fighters, the Cold War superpower foes, Washington and Moscow, are now engaged in combat over the same country for the first time since the Second World War.

They say they have the same enemies – the Islamic State group of Sunni Muslim militants who have proclaimed a caliphate across eastern Syria and northern Iraq.

But they also have very different friends, and sharply opposing views of how to resolve the four-year-old Syrian civil war, in which more than 250 000 people have been killed and more than 10 million driven from their homes.

Washington and its allies oppose Islamic State and Mr Assad, believing he must leave power in any peace settlement.

Washington says a central part of its strategy is building “moderate” insurgents to fight against Mr Assad and Islamic State, although so far it has struggled to find many fighters to accept its training. — Reuters.