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Report: Russian Troops Fighting for Assad in Syria

Russian troops, weapons, and vehicles have been sighted in battles in Syria supporting the Assad regime, The Telegraph reported Wednesday.

The video footage claimed to show troops and a Russian armoured vehicle fighting Syrian rebels alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s troops in Latakia. …

In further indications of Russian “mission creep” in Syria, a Twitter account linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, published images of what appeared to be Russian planes and drones flying over Idlib.

And a Russian naval vessel was photographed heading south through the Bosphorus strait carrying large amounts of military equipment, according to social media and a shipping blog.

“Russia’s goal is said to be purely counterterrorist in nature and conforms to a new period of bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Tehran in salvaging a common ally—Assad—while also amplifying the fight against ISIS,” Michael Weiss wrote in The Daily Beast earlier this week. “That war, as prosecuted by a U.S.-fronted coalition for a year now, has not been going so swimmingly.”

Iran has also been actively backing Assad, extending him a $1 billion line of credit in July and recruiting foreigners, especially Afghans, to fight in support of the regime.

[Photo: Ivan Sidorenkoo / YouTube ]