Why is Iraq ignoring US concerns about Russia?
Russia is using the Syrian conflict to demonstrate its importance on the world stage, and to erode U.S. attempts at isolating Russia after its land grab last year in Crimea. Russia, which has repeatedly expressed its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, admits to transferring T-90 tanks, howitzers, and armored personnel carriers. "There were military supplies, they are […]David L. Phillips writes for CNBC:
Russia is using the Syrian conflict to demonstrate its importance on the world stage, and to erode U.S. attempts at isolating Russia after its land grab last year in Crimea. Russia, which has repeatedly expressed its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, admits to transferring T-90 tanks, howitzers, and armored personnel carriers. "There were military supplies, they are ongoing, and they will continue," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian journalists.
U.S. spy planes have monitored the construction of a forward operations air base in Latakia, near Assad's ancestral home on Syria's Mediterranean coast. Construction of the airfield started last month.
