CFR Daily News Brief: Coalition Urges Russia to Cease Strikes on Syrian Opposition

Coalition Urges Russia to Cease Strikes on Syrian Opposition

The U.S.-led coalition against the self-proclaimed Islamic State issued a joint statement on Thursday calling on Russia to cease (Bloomberg) its aerial campaign on armed Syrian opposition groups and to shift its focus to Islamic State positions. The coalition, which includes France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UK, claimed that Russian strikes are also hitting civilians (Al Jazeera) and risk fueling extremism. The Russian defense ministry said its bombardments destroyed (WSJ) Islamic State command posts, a communications hub, and a weapons cache. Moscow says its air strikes in Syria could last three to four months. Separately, Lebanese sources said that hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived (Reuters) in Syria to back a Syrian government ground offensive.

ANALYSIS "Given the diminution of Russian influence in the Middle East with the fall of the Soviet Union, Putin sees an interest in reestablishing such influence wherever possible in the region. Syria is a case in point. But Putin should be wary of what he hopes for. Russian military intervention in Syria could have the unintended consequence of making radical Islamist groups focus on Russia as a prime enemy and target of retaliation," says Edward P. Djerejian in a CFR Interview. "The Middle East today is indeed undergoing an unprecedented transition beset by collapse of state power, rise of extremist ideologies, and the probable proliferation of nuclear technologies. Iran is in many ways contributing to all of the region’s maladies. Just because Iran is part of the problem does not mean it can contribute to a solution," writes CFR's Ray Takeyh in an Expert Brief. "It will be Moscow and Tehran, Assad’s sole outside protectors, that manage this transition, if there is one—and there won’t be transition unless these same managers determine that the ‘new leader’ can protect their interests more securely than Assad can. Syria represents Russia’s only toehold in the Middle East and Iran’s gateway to interests further westward in the region (especially Hezbollah). Both powers regard ISIS as a threat not because it unleashes chaos on the Syrian people (Assad does plenty of that) but because it threatens their own interests in the region," writes Fred Kaplan in Slate.