Russia officially launched its airstrikes in Syria in September Ukraine was a lost cause. It will simply fall apart. President Barack Obama. Moscow, however, still suffered from the so-called Afghan syndrome that preceded the collapse of the Soviet empire.
The ghosts of the war in Afghanistan in the s still haunt the corridors of the Kremlin; few want to end up in another quagmire in the Islamic world. Despite hoping for a quick victory after overthrowing Afghan President Hafizullah Amin and reinstalling the communist leadership in , the Soviet military ended up in a decadelong debacle and lost about 15, troops.
As a result, any possible military campaign in Syria was met with an extreme caution. Emerging as a regional power was another objective.
Middle East policy deepened. Putin always intended to be much more than a fixer; he wanted Moscow to be an indispensable actor. The goal in Syria was not to grab what was left but to flex its muscle and showcase power.
Its foreign adventures seemed to have paid off. Although the path to political settlement and post-conflict reconstruction will be bumpy, there is a confidence that the Astana framework will eventually produce the acceptable outcome. Thus, the Kremlin sensed the need to start decreasing its regional presence while openly embracing its original for-profit interests increased trade and regional political capital that should be clear to all parties within the region. Now, with Washington voluntary removing itself from the Syrian equation, Moscow remains vigilant about the possible resurgence of violent nonstate actors such as the Islamic State or al-Nusra, but it also envisions transforming its bullheaded strategy into a more opportunistic one.
We spoke to a teacher from Ariha, in Idlib, who described how the Syrian-Russian military alliance fired a rocket that struck right next to the Khaled Bashir Halabieh primary school, where she teaches, at about 1 p. And I, like them, was helpless. There was nothing I could do for them. I looked at them and there was nothing I could do other than calm them, tell them not to be afraid, tell them to pray, tell them that it would soon be over.
She was particularly fearful because her own children were among the students attending the school, and she thought they might have been killed. The explosion shattered the windows and damaged the doors of her school, and also damaged another primary school and a nearby preschool, as well as many neighboring homes. The strike killed 13 civilians and wounded another She described how teachers scrambled to repair the damage immediately after the attack — students would need to sit for their national midterm exams five days later.
What she did not understand was why the Syrian-Russian military alliance had fired a rocket toward her school since there were no fighters or military bases in the area.
Syrian and Russians officials have said their attacks in Idlib are targeting terrorists. But our interviews with over victims and witnesses, and analysis of dozens of satellite images and over videos, showed no evidence of fighters or military targets in the vicinity of this attack or any of the other 45 attacks we documented. Our research suggests that these repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure in populated areas — in which there were no apparent military objectives — were deliberate, and the objective may have been to deprive civilians of the means to sustain themselves and force them to flee.
With over 20 million Russians living in poverty and many struggling to get basic health care, food, and education, concerned Russian citizens should speak up and say enough is enough. Russians should not be bankrolling the killing of civilians in Syria. Syrian and Russian Strikes on Civilian Infrastructure. Get updates on human rights issues from around the globe. Join our movement today. The weak points are where the Syrian army is fighting against IS and other terrorist groups.
The use of such indiscriminate targeting could lead to the deaths of innocent civilians, he said, and create more terrorists than they kill. One of the airstrikes hit near a mosque in the city of Jisr al-Shughour, which fell in April to rebel groups including al-Nusra, the Observatory said. A video showed damage to the mosque and a man could be heard saying that one person was killed.
The Pentagon began talks via video teleconference with Russian military officials on ways to avoid U. Otto said that even as the U. I would not envision a relationship where I would share some of my intelligence with them. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said its aircraft damaged or destroyed 12 targets in Syria belonging to the Islamic State group, including a command center and two ammunition depots. Officials acknowledged, however, that other unidentified groups were being targeted as well.
Konashenkov said Russian SuM and Su jets flew 20 sorties since Wednesday, and he insisted civilian areas were not targeted. He later said Sus also had flown missions. Hundreds of Chechens and Central Asian fighters have joined the battles in Syria since the early days of the civil war, and many form the backbone of al-Nusra and Islamic State.
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