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Topic: Russia Launches Airstrikes in Syria, but Not at ISIS
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Joined: 07/25/2004
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Posted: 09/30/2015 at 9:59am
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Russia Launches Airstrikes in Syria, but Not at ISIS
Russia launched airstrikes in Syria today, raising new concerns about
Kremlin plans to prop up the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to portray the airstrikes as a
pre-emptive attack against the Islamic State militants who have taken
over large parts of Syria and Iraq.
But U.S. officials and others cast doubt on that claim, saying the
Russians appeared to be attacking opposition groups fighting Syrian
government forces.
Earlier in the day, Russian leaders told the U.S. to
get its warplanes out of Syria immediately in a new sign that the
Kremlin is growing more aggressive in its push for dominance there.
That
report came from a senior military official who told Fox News that
Russian diplomats issued the demand through an official protest to the
U.S.
It all comes as Russian lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday to give Putin a green light to send troops into Syria.
Russia had already been building up its military presence in Syria to help their ally, Assad, hold on to power.
Putin discussed his plan to fight ISIS with President Barack Obama at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week.
That
came after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter had a 50-minute phone call
last week with his Russian counterpart, the first such
military-to-military discussion between the two countries in more than a
year.
Washington has reportedly been hoping to "deconflict" U.S.
and Russian military actions, worried by the threat of Russian and U.S.
jets clashing inadvertently over Syrian skies.
Israel has taken
similar precautions, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting
Moscow last week to agree with Putin on a coordination mechanism to
avoid any possible confrontation between Israeli and Russian forces in
Syria.
The U.S. and Russia have competing visions for the Middle East, and Russia's latest military moves are seen as a sign that America is losing influence in the region.
The last time Putin sought approval for troops overseas was when he took the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.
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