Russia on Friday flexed its muscles again over Syria, for the first time launching cruise missiles at targets from warships in the Mediterranean Sea days after beginning bombing runs from a base in Iran.
Taken together, the new military moves appeared to be a demonstration that Russia has the ability to strike from virtually all directions in a region where it has been reasserting its power — from Iran, from warships in the Caspian Sea, from its base in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia and now from the Mediterranean.
The US also asserted its military might in a new way, scrambling its aircraft to protect its forces, and those it is supporting, from Syrian government airstrikes.
Photo: Reuters / Russian Ministry of Defense
The Pentagon issued a blunt warning to the Syrian government after its warplanes struck a Kurdish-controlled region where US military personnel were on the ground.
“The Syrian regime would be well advised not to interfere with coalition forces or our partners,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.
Talks appear to have stalled between Russia and the US on a proposal to carry out joint operations in Syria against militant groups both countries consider terrorists. Russian and Syrian government airstrikes have intensified lately, with no progress on the horizon for a political solution to end the war.
While both Russia and the US say they share the goal of defeating the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, they are waging parallel but separate wars against the militant group while simultaneously backing opposite sides in the conflict between Russia’s ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his other opponents, including rebels backed by the US.
The Pentagon said it had scrambled aircraft over northeastern Syria in a warning to the government after Syrian warplanes hit areas controlled by Kurdish fighters that are working with the US military to fight the Islamic State group.
The government and the Kurdish-led forces have had only occasional skirmishes, maintaining a kind of de facto truce, and the government airstrikes came amid their most serious clashes yet.
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