Putin rips mask off Russian military build-up for Syria’s Assad

Vladimir Putin has conferred ­official status on the Russian military build-up in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in Dushanbe on September 15, 2015.

Vladimir Putin has conferred ­official status on the Russian military build-up in Syria to support Bashar al-Assad’s embattled ­regime, stirring tension between regional powers and the US.

President Putin defended the burgeoning military help to Assad — blamed for the civil war that grew out of the 2011 Arab spring revolts — saying it would be ­impossible to defeat Islamic State without the co-operation of ­Damascus.

“We are supporting the government of Syria in the fight against a terrorist aggression, are offering and will continue to offer it necessary military-technical assistance,” Mr Putin said.

“Without an active participation of the Syrian authorities and the military, it would be impossible to expel terrorists from that country and the region as a whole and to protect the multi-ethnic and multiconfessional Syrian people from destruction.”

Syria’s ties with Moscow date back to the Soviet era, when Syria was an important Cold War ally offsetting the alliance between the US and Israel, and later links between Washington with oil suppliers such as Saudi Arabia.

The Russians have committed advanced combat aircraft, anti-aircraft missile systems and helicopters to secure the Mediterranean coast where the ports of Latakia and Tartous host important Russian naval bases. These are being expanded under the protection of Russian marines and top-line T90 battle tanks.

The Russians are also helping secure a heartland for Syria’s Alawite minority, which is aligned with the Assad family. Were the regime to fall, the ­Alawites could fall back on this ­redoubt to avoid being massacred.

At the same time, upwards of 10,000 Iranian-backed Hezbollah Shia militia from Lebanon are fighting to keep the Beirut-­Damascus highway open and in other fierce actions against rebel groups fanning out from the ­Lebanese border. Iranian forces are reported to have arrived in the capital to secure key roads and neighbourhoods.

Russian fighter pilots have ­reportedly been deployed to Syria, as Assad’s air force is rearmed with MiG-29 warplanes. Significantly, the US claims that Moscow has sent advanced SA-22 ground-to-air missiles to Syria, a potential deterrent to any attempt by Western forces to set up no-fly zones over the country.

US Secretary of State John Kerry made his third phone call in 10 days to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to query the military build-up. Propping up Assad would prolong a conflict that has killed 250,000 people in the past four years, the US says.

But Mr Putin may be pivoting from the Russian-controlled ­regions of east Donbass and ­Crimea in Ukraine to Syria, possibly to gain international kudos by taking up the fight to Islamic State — even if it is cover to help Assad.

Speaking at a security summit with former Soviet Union satellite nations in Tajikistan, Mr Putin said the Syrian leader was ready to make political compromises and engage a “healthy part of the opposition” to contain Islamic State.

The regime has endured serious setbacks on the battlefield this year, mainly at the hands of the rebel coalition excluding Islamic State. Yet in seizing the ancient city of Palmyra and nearby oilfields in May, Islamic State irregulars defeated some of the best troops Assad could deploy, exposing glaring deficiencies in what’s left of the army.

Mr Putin shrugged off allegations that Moscow’s support for the regime had compounded the refugee crisis assailing Europe, claiming the flood of displaced people from Syria would have been greater without Russian intervention.

In a rare media appearance overnight, Assad blamed the West’s support of “terrorists” for the exodus.

Israeli media says military commanders are concerned by ­Israel’s powerful, US-equipped air force operating in such proximity to Russian warplanes in airspace bordering Syria.

This adds to wider concerns about a regional arms race, as cashed-up Arab oil states compete for new weapon systems.

Additional reporting: Agencies