Russia Begins Airstrikes in Syria; U.S. Warns of New Concerns in Conflict

MOSCOW:  Russian warplanes began airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, adding an unpredictable new element to a multi-layered war that has already drawn in the United States and allies, created millions of refugees and opened room for gains by the Islamic State.

Washington quickly criticized the airstrikes - warning it brings added risks to Syria - but said Moscow's moves would not change the U.S.-led air campaign targeting the Islamic State strongholds in Syria.

It also sharply raised the stakes over the competing visions for Syria outlined earlier this week at the United Nations: Russian President Vladimir Putin insisting that Syria's embattled government is the key to stability, and President Obama saying the "status quo" cannot stand after more than four years of bloodshed.


The introduction of Russian air power - just hours after Russia's parliament authorized the use of military force - is certain to deepen American concerns over possible escalations in Syrian battle fronts.

In addition, Russia now gives bolstered firepower to its longtime ally, Bashar Assad, whose forces are fighting both the Islamic State and rebel factions, including some backed by the West.

Assad's forces are blamed for crackdowns and attacks that have forced more than 4 million people to flee the country - and now joining a wave of migrants and asylum flooding Europe.

In Moscow, a statement from Russia's Defense Ministry said airstrikes were carried out "against positions held by the Islamic State in Syrian territory," including military vehicles, communications centers, weapons caches, ammunition and fuel depots. The ministry did not note the locations.

But Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported Russian aircraft took part in attacks near the western city of Homs to strike "dens" of the Islamic State, also known by acronyms including ISIS and ISIL.

Homs is a former hotbed of the revolt against Assad in 2011 and still not fully in government hands. Some areas outside the city have now become footholds for the Islamic State.

Assad's forces have made regaining Homs a strategic priority to link the capital Damascus with government strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, including Latakia where Russia has a naval facility.

One opposition leader, Hisham Marwah, claimed the Russian airstrikes "targeted civilians, not ISIS," killing at least 37 people in the town of Talbiseh in Homs.

"The people of this area are opposed to ISIS," said Marwah, vice president of the Syrian National Coalition, speaking by telephone from the United States. His accounts could not be independently verified.

Amid the fast-moving developments, Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the Russian airstrikes are "not helpful," according to a senior State Department official speaking anonymously about the Russia military activity.

Kerry also told Lavrov the airstrikes run counter to Russia's stated intention to cooperate on so-called "deconfliction," or making sure that mishaps do not happen inadvertently in the air.

The official said Kerry insisted deconfliction talks must begin immediately.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Russian airstrikes "in no way will alter the United States or coalition missions against ISIL . . . particularly air missions.

Kirby confirmed that a Russian official informed a U.S. embassy official this morning that Russia would be flying tactical missions over Syria, and requested the U.S. and coalition aircraft not fly at all over Syria.

"Russia will factually be the only country to carry out this operation on the legitimate basis of the request of the legitimate government of Syria," Dmitri S. Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told journalists after the parliament vote in Moscow.

The resolution came without warning in the Federation Council, Russia's higher body of parliament, where 162 senators voted unanimously in support after a closed-door discussion - similar to the vote last year to green light Russian military force in Ukraine.

In a brief statement, the Kremlin said that Putin had requested the authorization to use force "on the basis of universally recognized principles and norms of international law."

"The atmosphere was entirely one of solidarity," Oleg Morozov, a member of the Federation Council, said of the debate. "There were no questions that might have influenced this atmosphere."

Sergei Ivanov, the Kremlin Chief of Staff, said on national television that the resolution was strictly limited to the use of Russian aviation in Syria and that ground troops would not be sent into battle.

"We are not discussing achieving foreign policy goals or fulfilling the ambitions that our western partners regularly accuse us of," said Ivanov. "We are exclusively discussing the national interests of the Russian Federation."

While Russia has supplied arms to Assad for years, a direct military intervention seemed unlikely until early this month, when Russian aircraft, tanks, artillery, and troops were spotted in the port of Latakia, an Assad stronghold.

Putin continued to keep Western leaders off-balance by calling for a broad coalition with the Syrian government to fight the Islamic State, and opening an intelligence-sharing hub in Baghdad with Iraq, Syria and Iran.

The moves led to a one-on-one meeting with Obama at the United Nations General Assembly this week, although Obama had shunned Putin over the Ukraine crisis.

Asked at the United Nations in New York on Monday whether he would consider using airstrikes in Syria, Putin said "we do not rule out anything, but if we act, we will do it in strict compliance with the international law." He did rule out the use of ground forces in Syria.

Critics say that the Kremlin is using the Syrian crisis to escape international isolation following its annexation of the Crimean peninsula last March, and to divert attention at home from the conflict in Ukraine's southeast between Kiev and Russian-backed separatists.

The last time the Federation Council held a similar vote was in March 2014, when the legislative body voted unanimously to grant Putin the right to use military force in Ukraine.

At that time, Russian troops without identifying marks had appeared in Crimea (the peninsula was annexed by Russia several weeks later). Russia has never admitted sending its military into Ukraine, although Ukraine and the West have accused it of intervening on behalf of separatists in the country's southeast.

The Federation Council repealed authorization to use the armed forces in Ukraine in June 2014 at Putin's request.

"For Russian forces to operate there legitimately . . . a law was needed," military expert Ivan Konovalov told the Reuters news agency, referring to a technical requirement under Russian law.