The Russian Federation Council has approved the proposal put forward by President Vladimir Putin to authorize the use of a Russian Armed Forces’ contingent outside the country in accordance with international law. At the same time, Syrian President Bashar Assad asked Russia to provide military assistance.
However, as the head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Sergey Ivanov, said, this regards air operations similar to the actions of the international coalition, and the participation of Russian infantry in the war against IS is excluded.
The editor-in-chief of 'National Defense' magazine, Igor Korotchenko, told a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza that everything is ready for Russian military air operations in Syria. "There is reason to believe that a Russian aviation group with experienced pilots and the necessary supply of ammunition for combat operations was created at the air base in Latakia. An air bridge which delivered all the required loads intensely operated all these days, practical options for fighting were worked out by the Russian Air Force during the ‘Center-2015’ exercises," the military expert said.
"So I think the actions will be effective if there will be provision of intelligence about the objects that are to be destroyed and actions with other members of the coalition will be coordinated. Of course, the Syrian troops, who will conduct ground operations, play a crucial role. The main goal of the Russian army is to defeat the rebel strongholds and captured objects, to defeat IS," Korochenko noted.
According to him, there won't be any problems with the international coalition in the Syrian skies. "The coordinating center in Baghdad was created for this purpose," he explained.
The editor-in-chief of 'Military-Industrial Courier' and the magazine 'Aerospace Defense', Michael Khodarenok, said that at the moment there are about 10 Su-25, 4 Su-24, 6 Su-34 aircraft in Syria. "Such forces will not win the war but it is very easy to get involved in a lengthy conflict. It will be very difficult to create a complete group to conduct large-scale operations, because it would require a huge transfer of material," Khodarenok warned.
The expert is afraid of a repetition of the events in Afghanistan. "Right now, this is an air force, and then it could be ground operations. In addition, there are many other players – Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States. A lot of ambiguities, the answers to which are required not from a political point view, but from an operational-strategic and tactical point of view. How will it happen in practice? There is other aviation, for example, the US, NATO countries, so "friendly" fire is quite possible. These are many questions to which I have no clear answer today," he said.
Michael Khodarenok expects that in the first stage, "it would look like a limited air support for the ground troops, the units of the armed forces of Bashar Assad."
A military observer of the TASS news agency, retired Colonel Viktor Litovkin, in his turn, expressed the view that it is impossible to solve the problem of the fight against the Islamic State using only combat aviation. "A ground operation must be carried out in the first place, I mean the Islamic states in the region – Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and the legitimate government of Syria. And the United States of course. In my view, the US has to put pressure on Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait to stop the support for Islamic State," he said.
Speaking of the combat tasks to be performed by the Russian air force in Syria, the military analyst said that it will deal with intelligence purposes in the territories captured by the IS militants and strike at intelligence targets in coordination with aviation of the United States, France and other members of the coalition.
The expert drew attention to the fact that there won't be any problems about fact that the Western bombers are already operating in the Syrian sky. "I believe that after the talks between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama there is an agreement that we will coordinate our actions," a military observer of the TASS news agency concluded.
