Russia Sends Its Only Aircraft Carrier To Syria while Iran Sends "Thousands" Of Troops For Russian-Backed Assault On Key City

As should be abundantly clear by now, The Kremlin is adopting a “slightly” different strategy when it comes to combatting terror in the Mid-East than that adopted by the US and its Western and regional allies. 

The strategy of the US and its allies seems to go something like this: 1) covertly arm and train groups who you know might ultimately become terrorists because arming and training these groups may be a way to destabilize unfriendly regimes, 2) wait for blowback, 3) launch serious effort to combat terror if unfriendly regime has been “successfully” replaced by puppet government, or launch half-hearted effort to combat terror if situation still fluid and regime still clings to power. 

Obviously, that strategy is prone to all types of problems, and sensing that the US and its allies might have finally met their foreign policy blunder Waterloo in Syria, Russia decided to call everyone’s bluff by launching a real war on terror. Of course, this war conveniently restores the regime of one of Moscow’s allies, but in the end the result is the same: anyone who is a terrorist and who is also fighting Assad in Syria is in for big trouble because Russia is using this is as an opportunity to reassert itself on the world stage and also to fire up a long-dormant military juggernaut. 

Now, on the heels of hundreds of airstrikes accompanied by dramatic video footage as well as cruise missile attacks launched from Russian warships in the Caspian, The Kremlin is sending its lone heavy aircraft carrier into the fight. This is only the ship's sixth deployment in history. 

 Here’s more from Flashnord (Google translated):

Heavy aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft), "Admiral Kuznetsov" is Russia's only aircraft carrier, the weekend will go from Murmansk to the shores of Syria, said FlashNord source in the Northern Fleet command.

"The cruiser dock repair completed until the end of the week go to the coast of Syria, where he joined the operation to destroy the group" Islamic State "," - a spokesman said.

According to him, from May to August this year was held aircraft carrier dock repair 82 Shipyard in Roslyakovo (Murmansk region). Then, on a regular docked in Murmansk, he walked up to the restoration of full combat readiness.

Since September 30, Russia carries out air operations in Syria with the aim of destroying the objects of the "Islamic state."

Here are some images:

As those who follow Mid-East affairs are acutely aware, the regime in Syria has enjoyed both military and financial support from Iran for the duration of the country’s civil war. 

Syria cannot fall to the West if Tehran intends to preserve the regional balance of power and an Iran-friendly Damascus ensures the supply lines remain open between the IRGC and Hezbollah. Lose Syria, and suddenly, the Mid-East tide turns in favor of the Saudis and Qatar and that, clearly, is an unacceptable outcome.

That said, Iran’s role on the ground in Syria has taken some off guard of late. Perhaps it’s the fact that Tehran’s participation on the ground has become more overt even as one would imagine that Iran would be keen to not antagonize the West on the heels of the nuclear deal which has the potential to facilitate the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. The key seems to be Russia’s involvement, which effectively gives Iran’s Syrian ground operations the superpower stamp of approval. 

The strategy, as we’ve noted on several occasions of late, is that Russia clears the way with aggressive aerial bombardments and then Iran, operating through either Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias, and/or the IRGC sweeps in on the ground and takes care of whatever anti-regime forces may be left in the wake of the Russian airstrikes. 

This has worked well thus far and now apparently, Iran has sent “thousands” of troops to Syria in preparation for an assault on Aleppo. Here’s Reuters:

A delegation of Iranian lawmakers arrived in Damascus on Wednesday in the build-up to a joint operation against insurgents in northwest Syria, and said U.S.-led efforts to fight rebels had failed.

The visit, led by the chairman of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, came as Iranian troops prepared to bolster a Syrian army offensive that two senior officials told Reuters would target rebels in Aleppo.

The attack, which the officials said would be backed by Russian air strikes, underlined the growing involvement in the civil war of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's two main allies, which has alarmed a U.S.-led coalition opposed to the president that is bombing Islamic State militants.

"The international coalition led by America has failed in the fight against terrorism. The cooperation between Syria, Iraq, Iran and Russia has been positive and successful," Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by Iran's state broadcaster IRIB as he arrived at Damascus airport.

The delegation was due to meet Assad, said officials.

Iran has sent thousands of troops into Syria in recent days to bolster the planned ground offensive in Aleppo, the two officials told Reuters.

And a bit more color: 

Syria's army along with Iranian and Hezbollah allies will soon launch a ground attack supported by Russian air strikes against insurgents in the Aleppo area, two senior regional officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

Control of Aleppo city and the surrounding province in the area near the Turkish border is divided among the Syrian government, insurgent groups fighting Assad and the Islamic State group that controls some rural areas near the city.

"The big battle preparations in that area are clear," said one of the officials familiar with the plans. "There is a large mobilization of the Syrian army ... elite Hezbollah fighters, and thousands of Iranians who arrived in stages in recent days."

As a reminder, Aleppo is very close to the so-called "ISIS free zone" that the US and Turkey planned to establish months ago. Here's the map:

This means that Russian and Iranian forces will be closing in on a particularly sensitive area of the country as it relates to the Syrian-Turkish border, setting the stage for more tension between Ankara and Moscow and suggesting that the Iran-Russia "nexus" is on the verge of marking yet another key milestone in the effort to restore the regime. 

Bear in mind that this has all unfolded in the space of just a few weeks, and we wonder just how long it will be before the assault on Raqqa will begin, because if the ISIS capital were to fall, the end would truly be nigh for anti-regime elements operating in Syria. 

Credit to Zero Hedge