Reports of Russian troops in Syria

In recent days, there have been several reports of Russian troops and vehicles fighting in Syria alongside Assad.

-Ynet says that a Russian expeditionary force has set up a forward operating base near Damascus, and thousands of military personnel and fighter jets are expected to begin showing up in the coming months.

Russia's also apparently reached an agreement with Iran to keep Assad in power as a buffer to prevent ISIS from spreading further east.

-State media cited by the Telegraph also supposedly shows Russian troops and vehicles already fighting rebels in Latakia. Other social media posts also seem to show Russian drones and aircraft photographed over Syria.



-Earlier in August, Bosphorus Naval News posted pictures of what seemed to be a Russian ship carrying military vehicles heading through Istanbul.

Spoiler

Of course, Russia has been supporting the Assad regime for a long time; that's not news. There have also always been wild-eyed reports about Russian invasions of Syria because the whole region is a clusterfuck of misinformation. But these reports are credible enough that the White House is "monitoring" them.


Discuss.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

in Syria its "protecting a country from being taken over by the west"

I thought the Russian casus beli in Syria was fighting ISIS. If you check out Russian TV they're scaremongering about Russian and CIS born fighters in Syria returning to Russia and causing havoc. The air strikes are being sold primarily as a solution to that. Sticking it to the West is clearly an added extra, but I think what this shows is that ISIS is a useful political boogeyman, not just in the West, but in pretty much the whole world.

 

[Big Nasty]

in Syria its "protecting a country from being taken over by the west". That's why Putin's government is still popular. All of this is marketed at home as glorious Russia standing up against a western onslaught.

They are also making a big deal of the Russian military being "invited" by Syria.

 

[Guardian G.I.]

USA & Co. are explicitly demanding Russia to get out of Syria. It's unlikely Russia will cave in right now, so...

 

[AnOminous]

They are also making a big deal of the Russian military being "invited" by Syria.

They used to do that a lot in the past, too.

 

[Kusottare]

Russia's really Putin up a fight

 

[Dudeofteenage]

They are also making a big deal of the Russian military being "invited" by Syria.

They were "invited" into Afghanistan too.

USA & Co. are explicitly demanding Russia to get out of Syria. It's unlikely Russia will cave in right now, so...

The demand doesn't come with any threat of force, even implicit. And at the same time the US and Russian military are having talks to 'deconflict' the Syria situation and ensure that they don't accidentally encounter one another, so it seems that the USA is reconciled to Russia's continuing presence, even though they officially disapprove.

 

[Duke Nukem]

>TFW Vladimir Putin is doing more to stop ISIS from spreading than Obama is.

The sad truth is, Obama cares more about being popular among stupid college punks than he does about doing his fucking job properly. That being said, while I dislike Putin personally, I'm glad at least someone's there to put the pressure on ISIS.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

The sad truth is, Obama cares more about being popular among stupid college punks than he does about doing his fucking job properly. That being said, while I dislike Putin personally, I'm glad at least someone's there to put the pressure on ISIS.

Obama has been bombing ISIS for a year now. Putin has literally never bombed ISIS, he's just bombed a bunch of anti-Assad rebels who he claimed were ISIS.

 

[SJWs are cool]

i never thought i would say 'thank god for russia' but thank god for russia

as terrible as they are at least they're acting as a buffer to our middle east hostilities

we can no longer just go in and wave our military dicks around with the russians making moves in the same place

i'm p tired of being the world police when terrorists never do shit to us anyway

 

[Duke Nukem]

Obama has been bombing ISIS for a year now. Putin has literally never bombed ISIS, he's just bombed a bunch of anti-Assad rebels who he claimed were ISIS.

It was actually Obama that didn't take ISIS seriously and referred to them as "a bunch of amateurs." Doesn't matter now, he didn't take it seriously early on, and look where it's at now. Whatever he's doing now, it's not very effective.

As for Russian involvement, well, many of those "anti-Assad rebels" are in fact jihadists and al-Qaeda affiliates. No great loss there.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

It was actually Obama that didn't take ISIS seriously and referred to them as "a bunch of amateurs." Doesn't matter now, he didn't take it seriously early on, and look where it's at now. Whatever he's doing now, it's not very effective.

It seems that what he does matters more than what he says. It's true, bombing ISIS isn't going to get rid of them, but that's true of the Russian bombing too.

As for Russian involvement, well, many of those "anti-Assad rebels" are in fact jihadists and al-Qaeda affiliates. No great loss there.

So you're basically saying that everybody in Syria who doesn't support Assad is a Jihadi? That's quite a claim.

 

[XYZpdq]

It seems that what he does matters more than what he says. It's true, bombing ISIS isn't going to get rid of them, but that's true of the Russian bombing too.



So you're basically saying that everybody in Syria who doesn't support Assad is a Jihadi? That's quite a claim.

if they weren't jihadis then why would they live over there to begin with

 

[Duke Nukem]

It seems that what he does matters more than what he says. It's true, bombing ISIS isn't going to get rid of them, but that's true of the Russian bombing too.

So you're basically saying that everybody in Syria who doesn't support Assad is a Jihadi? That's quite a claim.

Maybe it won't happen overnight, but at least someone else will get into a quagmire this time instead of the US. And no, that's not what I said. I said many, not all. Most now, considering that the moderates have been all but completely squeezed out of the picture and replaced by radicals just as bad as Assad.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

Maybe it won't happen overnight, but at least someone else will get into a quagmire this time instead of the US. And no, that's not what I said. I said many, not all. Most now, considering that the moderates have been all but completely squeezed out of the picture and replaced by radicals just as bad as Assad.

The moderates are having a hard time but they definitely still exist, and that's who the Russians have been bombing so far.

 

[Guardian G.I.]

NATO is demanding Russia to cease air strikes in Syria once again.
I'll dig up more songs from Top Gun if it escalates.

 

[AN/ALR56]

The moderates are having a hard time but they definitely still exist, and that's who the Russians have been bombing so far.

Moderates like the SFA dude whom ate a guy's liver?

 

[*Asterisk*]

So, how's that non-intervention policy going, fans of Obama and the Pauls alike?

 

[Strelok]

If Russia wants to be the next in line to get involved in the utter fucking quagmire that is the Middle East, fuck it let them. It's worked so well for everyone else that's tried the last 60 years after all.

EDIT: I give it 5 years till they declare their mission done, pull out, with absolutely nothing changed except the government and terrorists have a different face to their name now, and some western power decides it's now their turn to try to stabilize one of the other countries.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

Moderates like the SFA dude whom ate a guy's liver?

Being moderates doesn't mean your soldiers can't commit war crimes.

 

[XYZpdq]

If Russia wants to be the next in line to get involved in the utter fucking quagmire that is the Middle East, fuck it let them.

Yeah I'm really having a hard time getting particularly worked up over this. Is there some tactical reason why the area's really great or something?