More Talk As Russian Naval Buildup Continues Off Syria
Consultations over the war in Syria are continuing between the U.S. and Russia even as concern increases with a Russian naval buildup in the eastern Mediterranean off Syria, per recent reports on the situation.
“The Russian naval buildup in the eastern Mediterranean off Syria has reached disturbing proportions and threatens to intensify the war in Syria,” according to the story posted on UPI by James Bruce, which first came from The Arab Weekly.
While some write off this Russian naval buildup as being “a glorified training exercise in long-distance power projection by the Kremlin to show off its new and untested naval air arm and to demonstrate that Russia can do whatever the United States can,” the writer reports this following fact.
“Whatever its purpose, the Russian task force by all accounts now totals some 20 warships and submarines, with others on standby in the Gulf of Aden.”
From Twitter a few days ago, there came reports from Aleppo.
East #Aleppo residents say they’ve received these text msgs from the regime giving them 24 hrs to leave before a new attack begins #Syria pic.twitter.com/07zG9QU8d5
— Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) November 13, 2016
Russian airstrikes have also been reported on, as this next tweet with the hashtag #Syria shows.
Russian airstrikes in #Idlib disrupt jihadist supply route to Aleppo https://t.co/FZRbrMBiYa #Syria
— Al-Masdar News (@TheArabSource) November 14, 2016
The story from UPI/ArabWeekly also noted this concern from an unidentified NATO source.
“They’re deploying all of the Northern Fleet and much of the Baltic Fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War. This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks we’ll see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia’s strategy to declare victory there.”
Igor Sutyagin, described as being a Russian studies analyst with the Royal United Services Institute in London, does not share this view. He is also quoted from a statement made in October.
“This is not the beginning of World War 3. It’s more a public relations exercise, a show of force… This fleet is not capable of high-intensity warfare for more than 50 minutes.”
Talks continue, of course, about many sticking points as well as the Russian naval buildup. Conversations go on at least between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry per the information from Reuters world news writers.
Apparently on Monday Lavrov told Kerry Washington had “failed to stick to its pledge to encourage moderate Syrian rebels to separate themselves from terrorist” groups in Aleppo, Syria. Lavrov was also said to be angry about the U.S. “decision not to issue an entry visa to Kiran Ilyumzhinov.” He is described as being the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE) and now will miss the World Chess Championship in New York.
Perhaps this is a bargaining stick being applied. In last week’s State Department press briefing on Thursday, spokesperson Mark Toner discussed the recent Syrian news.
“Russia said they’re going to extend this pause in Aleppo. We are concerned, frankly, by the UN’s announcement earlier today about the – that the last available food rations had been distributed in Aleppo earlier today. We would support any UN effort or plan that can provide access or greater humanitarian assistance to Aleppo, and we would call on the Russians and the regime to allow that access. Obviously, that’s something they agreed to in the February 22nd cessation of hostilities.”
A reporter asked about the CENTCOM information which “said U.S. strikes in Syria and Iraq over the past two years have killed 119 civilians.” Toner was asked if he thought this to be “acceptable.”
“In answer to your second question, we don’t – we certainly don’t find any civilian death acceptable. And I think we’ve made that very clear many times from the podium. And certainly, I know the Department of Defense has also made that very clear. We, obviously, regret any unintentional loss of life or injury resulting from coalition airstrikes in Iraq.”
It seems quite likely that consultations over the war in Syria will be continuing between the U.S. and Russia even as concern increase with a Russian naval buildup in the eastern Mediterranean off Syria.
[Featured Image by Hassan Ammar/AP Images]
