OT - Heating things up in Syria

[Cdnwolf]

..Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria
By KIRIT RADIA and RYM MOMTAZ
..
Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria

....A Russian military unit has arrived in Syria, according to Russian news reports, a development that a United Nations Security Council source told ABC News was "a bomb" certain to have serious repercussions.

Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad's strongest allies despite international condemnation of the government's violent crackdown on the country's uprising, has repeatedly blocked the United Nations Security Council's attempts to halt the violence, accusing the U.S. and its allies of trying to start another war.

Now the Russian Black Sea fleet's Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency.

The Iman replaced another Russian ship "which had been sent to Syria for demonstrating (sic) the Russian presence in the turbulent region and possible evaluation of Russian citizens," the Black Sea Fleet told Interfax.

RIA Novosti, a news outlet with strong ties to the Kremlin, trumpeted the news in a banner headline that appeared only on its Arabic language website. The Russian embassy to the US and to the UN had no comment, saying they have "no particular information on" the arrival of a Russian anti-terrorism squad to Syria.

Moscow has long enjoyed a cozy relationship with the Assad regime, to which it sells billions of dollars of weapons. In return Russia has maintained a Navy base at Tartus, which gives it access to the Mediterranean.

[Jason Weiser]

Sounds like the Russians are simply reinforcing their presence in the country in case things get ugly and they have to get their people out in a hurry. I suspect it won't be long before somebody else starts telling their people it's time to get out of the pool, France maybe? The rebels know about Russia's links to the Assad family and some of those rebels would not be above pulling a hostage crisis with Russian citizens....

[TicToc]

I see it as more of a Chess move. Putin is showing his support of an friendly nation while flexing Russia's muscles to the international community. In addition the presence of Russian troops makes it very difficult for the west to intervene in its typical fashion (that being the infiltration of special operations and the dropping of lots of destruction from the sky). If the west infiltrated troops there is the chance no matter how small that the Russian molecules may run into the western molecule with a very poor reaction and a major international incident. In addition if the west drops bombs as we are want to do in these situations the Russians can claim (accurately or inaccurately) that those bombs killed Russian military forces with a get negative effect being the end outcome for western parties.

[Adm.Lee]

Given that I also read that Turkey has formally acknowledged that it is planning to set up refugee safe zones on the Syrian side of their border, that's an interesting (read: scary) development.

[Webstral]

The Russians would like to hold onto one of the few pieces remaining to them in the region.

[95th Rifleman]

The whole reason Russia cut Gadaffi loose was so that the west would back off over Syria. We have not kept our end of the bargain in Russian eyes so they are seeking to protect their investment.