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Russia sends artillery and tanks to Syria as part of continued military buildup Russia sends artillery and tanks to Syria as part of continued military buildup
(about 3 hours later)
Russia has sent artillery and seven tanks to a Syrian air base as part of Moscow’s continued military buildup in the war-ravaged nation, according to US officials. Russia has sent tanks and artillery to Syria amid a reported military buildup, US officials say, raising concerns about a potential mission to bolster President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime.
The increase of Russian hardware in Syria has caused concerns in the West about the implications of Moscow militarily helping its old ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow has sent artillery units and seven tanks to the Syrian airbase near Latakia on the Mediterranean coast as part of an ongoing military buildup, a US official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official told AFP that seven T-90 tanks arrived in recent days but had not been sent outside the airbase near Latakia, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The source said the seven T-90s, Russia’s most modern service tank, arrived in Latakia in the past few days but had not been seen outside the airbase. The artillery was likely for airfield defence, the source said.
And the artillery, which arrived last week, appears to have been sent there to protect the facility. There was no indication Russia had sent fighter jets or helicopter gunships to Syria. “Hundreds” of Russian troops are already present in Latakia, and Moscow has installed enough mobile housing units to house about 1,500 people, the source added.
“It appears, and all the indications are pointing, that (the artillery is) for airfield defense,” the official said. Also on Monday, navy captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said a “steady flow” of Russian personnel and military equipment to Latakia in recent days suggests Moscow plans to operate military aircraft from the base, AP reported. But the US has not yet seen any fighter jets or attack helicopters arrive, he said.
Russian help for Assad could seriously complicate the US-led coalition’s air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and defense officials are worried about the possibility of accidents if coalition and Russian planes operate in the same airspace. Related: Russia complains of 'strange hysteria' over its presence in Syria
Two Russian transport planes, purportedly carrying humanitarian aid, landed in Syria on Saturday, Russian state media said, and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov last week said Moscow was sending military equipment along with aid “in accordance with current contracts”. Although photographs and social media posts have shown Russian soldiers are in Syria, the Kremlin has maintained they are there as advisers. Russian military activity could conflict with the US-led coalition’s airstrikes against the Islamic State, potentially tying up airspace, US officials have said.
At a news briefing, Pentagon spokesman captain Jeff Davis said Russia apparently was establishing a forward air operations base in Latakia. Davis said Washington would welcome Moscow’s contributions to the effort against Isis, but that military assistance for Assad could “risk adding greater instability to an already unstable situation”.
“It’s been a continued steady flow (of equipment) for the last week and a half or so,” he said. Russian officials have not commented on the alleged arrival of tanks and artillery. But the Syrian ambassador to Moscow, Riad Haddad, on Monday denied that Moscow was conducting a military buildup in Syria, calling news of a Russian troop presence “a lie”. He said Syria was receiving arms from its ally under defence contracts, state news agency TASS reported.
AFP reported last week that dozens of Russian naval infantry had arrived in Syria, along with two tank-landing ships and about a dozen Russian armored personnel carriers. “We have been cooperating with Russia for 30-40 years in various areas, including the military sphere. Yes, we receive arms, military equipment, all this is done in line with agreements sealed between our countries,” Haddad said.
American officials also say Russia has installed modular housing units – enough for “hundreds” of people. “But the talk of your (Russian) troop presence on the Syrian territory is a lie spread by western countries, the United States.”
Related: The Guardian view on the bloodshed in Syria: Russia has a lot to answer for | Editorial Last week, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia continues to send military equipment and advisers to Syria, but said this was only as part of arms deals and not an expeditionary force.
Russia is a staunch ally of the regime in Damascus and maintains a naval facility in Tartus province. “Our soldiers and military specialists are located there to service Russian equipment, cooperate with the Syrian army in using this equipment,” Lavrov told journalists on Thursday.
“We would welcome Russian contributions to the overall global effort against (the IS group) but things that continue to support the Assad regime, particularly military things, are unhelpful and risk adding greater instability to an already unstable situation,” Davis said. But on Saturday state television Channel One showed two Russian military cargo planes delivering what it said was 50 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Syria.
More than 240,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011. For the past year, Russia is suspected to have delivered arms and ammunition to separatists in eastern Ukraine in truck convoys that it insists are carrying humanitarian aid.
The government has lost large swathes of territory to rebels and jihadists such as the Islamic State group. Russia was sending groceries, children’s food and “everything necessary to equip a big new tent camp”, the Channel One news anchor said as footage showed Russian soldiers loading canvas, tent stakes and wooden crates into the aircraft.
On Sunday, bloggers posted photos of the Nikolay Filchenko, an Alligator-class landing ship reportedly in service with Russia’s Black Sea fleet, passing through what appeared to be the Turkish Straits. Green camouflage netting was covering part of its deck, leading to speculation of a military shipment.
The US-based intelligence-gathering company Stratfor last week last week published satellite imagery of construction on the Bassel al Assad International Airport in Latakia, Syria, that it said was evidence of the Russian military “establishing a base of operations” and preparing to deploy aircraft to Syria, if it has not already done so.
Among the changes made to the airport as of September 4 were runway improvements, two additional helicopter pads, a new taxiway, a new air traffic control station and mobile housing.
On Monday, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied reports that Moscow was engaged in secret negotiations about Assad’s political future with Washington.
It had previously been reported that an agreement might see Assad temporarily remain president while a provisional government was formed with representatives of the opposition. Peskov reiterated Russia’s support for Assad, but didn’t address the issue of military aid.
“For now no one can clearly explain what could be the alternative to the current legitimate Syrian government in terms of the country’s security, the struggle against the spread of the Islamic State, the unity of the country,” Peskov told journalists.
More than 240,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in 2011, and swaths of the country have fallen under the control of Isis.