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Russian Pilots Launch First Airstrikes in Syria,

Officials Say
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

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SEPT. 30, 2015

MOSCOW President Vladimir

V. Putin of Russia suddenly
escalated the stakes in his contest
with the West over influence in the
Middle East on Wednesday, as

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Russian pilots carried out their

first airstrikes in Syria.

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Russian warplanes dropped bombs

near the central city of Homs,
according to American officials in
Washington, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to make
a public statement. Moscow
informed American officials in
advance, they said.

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the United

Nations headquarters in New York on Monday.
Justin Lane/European Pressphoto Agency

The attack came hours after Mr.

Putin pushed a measure through
the upper house of Parliament
approving the use of Russian
military forces abroad.
Russian officials and analysts
portrayed the move as an attempt
both to fight Islamic State
militants and to try to ensure the
survival of President Bashar alAssad of Syria, Russias main ally
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in the Middle East. But Homs is

not under the control of the
Islamic State, also known as ISIS
or ISIL.
Russias intervention will most
likely prolong and complicate the
war, as it could keep Mr. Assad in
office and adds Russia to the
already complicated patchwork of
forces deployed there.

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Ivanov, Mr. Putins chief of staff,

appealed to the upper house, the
Federation Council, for the
measure to approve the use of force, describing it as an open-ended
deployment of the Russian Air Force to support Mr. Assad at his
request in his fight against the Islamic State.
Were talking exclusively about operations of Russias Air Force, as our
president has already said, the use of armed forces on the ground
theater of military operations is excluded, Mr. Ivanov said in remarks
to a closed session of the council that were broadcast after the measure
was approved unanimously 162 to 0. Eight lawmakers were absent.
It will be air support for the Syrian forces in their struggle with ISIS,
Mr. Ivanov said.
Although approval by the Federation Council is generally considered a
rubber stamp, a similar vote preceded the deployment of Russian forces
in Ukraine in March 2014, including to Crimea, which Russia annexed.
The Federation Council withdrew that approval in late June 2014. After
that, Russia described any soldiers fighting in southeast Ukraine as
volunteers, although Ukraine and its Western supporters continued to
accuse Russia of deploying its forces across the border.
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The Russian authorization of force on Wednesday came just two days

after Mr. Putin and President Obama met on the sidelines of the United
Nations General Assembly in New York, where they clashed over Syria.
Mr. Putin says Mr. Assad is a bulwark against the Islamic State, while
Mr. Obama says the Syrian war cannot be resolved until Mr. Assad
leaves.
Mr. Putin called for a grand international coalition to fight the Islamic
State, saying in his speech at the United Nations that the world needed
to support Mr. Assad and Kurdish forces fighting on the ground in order
to defeat the Islamic State, much as the world fought Hitler during
World War II.
But Mr. Obama emphasized that the United States wants Mr. Assad to
leave office, a position seconded by crucial allies in the region, like Saudi
Arabia.
Although the two men failed to reach an agreement on Syria, the United
States and Russia are expected to try to establish some coordination for
flights in the region, as Western
warplanes have been flying
missions against the Islamic State
for a year.
Russian warplanes and helicopter
gunships will be deployed in Syria,
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according to experts quoted in the

Russian news media. Only
volunteers will be called to serve,
the Russian news media said,
there will be no conscription.
The Federation Council vote came
on the same day the government announced intensive maneuvers
involving MI-28 attack helicopters and others in southern Russia.
Mr. Putin harbors both international and domestic reasons for
interfering in Syria.
On the international front, he wants to restore Russian influence as a
global power and to try to force an end to the diplomatic and financial
isolation the West imposed after Moscow seized Crimea and supported
separatists in southeast Ukraine. He also wants to maintain control over
Russias naval station at Tartus, in Syria, its only remaining overseas
military base outside the former Soviet Union.
Domestically, he wants to draw attention away from the Ukraine conflict
and to the troubles it has caused, as well as to burnish his image as an
international man of action who solves problems.
Geopolitics and the desire to protect Russias influence in the
Mediterranean is the main motive, said Alexei Makarkin, the deputy
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director of the Center for Political Technologies. The second motive is

to limit the flow of Islamic State recruiters into Russia.
For weeks, the United States said that Russia was deploying military
equipment and soldiers to a Syrian airfield near Latakia. Russian officials
said the cargo carriers flying to the site were delivering humanitarian
aid.
Russian surveillance drones have been sighted over parts of Syria where
other rebel groups are deployed, specifically those in Idlib Province that
threaten Latakia. Latakia is the heart of the coastal homeland of much of
the Alawite minority elite that runs Syria, including the Assad clan.
Russian drones have not been sighted over Islamic State-controlled
areas in northwestern Syria, prompting some speculation by American
analysts that Russia wants to attack all opposition groups, not just the
Islamic State.
We are not speaking of achieving anybodys ambitions, as our Western
partners regularly accuse us, Mr. Ivanov said. We are speaking
exclusively about the national interests of the Russian federation.
Russia had already said it would establish an information center in
Baghdad so that Iran, Iraq and Syria could pool intelligence about the
Islamic State, which controls wide stretches of territory in Iraq and
Syria.
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After his meeting with Mr. Obama, Mr. Putin belittled efforts by
Australia, France and the United States to fight Islamic State militants.
The Russian military had counted 43 strikes in Syria in 24 hours, he
said.
What is the result? Nobody knows if there is any, Mr. Putin said. If
we set ourselves the target of resolving specific issues and achieving
specific goals, this work should be coordinated in order to be successful.
The center was set up to coordinate efforts. I would like to repeat that it
has been set up for all who are interested in combating terrorism to join
in.
Mr. Putin said that Russia and the United States had agreed to work out
appropriate measures and that there needs to be some informational
coordination.
On Wednesday, Mr. Ivanov took pains to argue that the Western
countries flying missions against the Islamic State were acting outside
international law, because they did not have United Nations approval.
But the Russian actions are legal, he said, because Damascus requested
them.
In Syria, state-run news media strongly endorsed the move by Russia,
which it said was dispatching forces to Syria. Supporters of Mr. Assad
seemed particularly pleased that Russia was sending military aid
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because they felt his endorsement at the United Nations two days ago
was a bit tepid.
Deploying troops abroad remains a delicate topic in Russia, where
memories of the bloody fight against antigovernment forces in
Afghanistan in the 1980s remain fresh.

Reporting was contributed by Helene Cooper from Washington, Andrew E. Kramer

and Ivan Nechepurenko from Moscow, and Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon.

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