Putin’s Plan: What Will Russia Bomb in Syria?

Putin’s Plan: What Will Russia Bomb in Syria?

Posted by: Aron Lund Wednesday, September 23, 2015 MailFilterGateway has detected a possible fraud attempt from "carnegieendowment.org" claiming to be | http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=61386&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRohuqzOZKXonjHpfsX57uQsW6Sg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YUJSMZ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEIQ7XYTLB2t60MWA%3D%3D

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to order his military into Syria may simply have been the gut reaction of a hard-power ruler who, for lack of tools other than a hammer, can imagine no problem other than a nail. But dispatching the Russian Air Force in support of the embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad may also have been a true political masterstroke, in which case its political impact is likely to make a far bigger crater than any of the bombs that Putin is preparing to drop on Syria.
The first indications of a Russian military deployment in Syria leaked out in late August. It gradually became clear that something big was happening at the Basil al-Assad International Airport near Latakia in government-controlled western Syria. Not only was Assad’s army getting new weapons, it was also getting new comrades-in-arms.
According to satellite imagery reviewed by the Washington Post and The Aviationist, a specialist blog, the Russian expeditionary corps has now grown to nearly thirty Sukhoi combat aircraft. Most are SU-24 and SU-25 models that fly “low and slow” in order to take out ground targets, but there are also a few SU-30 jets—a “game changer,” according to a pilot interviewed by the Post, since this multi-role fighter could pose a serious threat to American aircraft in Syria.