jimnyc
11-16-2015, 07:35 PM
CAIRO - More than six weeks of Russian airstrikes on rebel-held areas of Syria have failed to weaken the country's insurgency, even as the military intervention has intensified international diplomatic efforts to end the four-year-long war.
The daily barrage of air attacks on targets across Syria, which have killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, have secured only minor victories for the embattled Syrian government, according to rights groups and think tanks monitoring the conflict.
By intervening to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russia has cemented its role as a regional powerhouse and ensured Moscow's influence over any political transition in Syria, analysts say.
But the military campaign, which began Sept. 30, has exposed the limits of Russian air power to change the dynamics on the battlefield.
Russian warplanes have also dropped what appear to be crude bombs on hospitals, homes and other civilian structures, military analysts and rights groups say. The strikes have deepened Syria's already dire humanitarian crisis.
"In nearly five years [of war], I have never seen the situation so bad," Zaidoun al-Zoabi, the head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations, said of the past six weeks in Syria. "And we have every indication it will get worse."
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/russian-airstrikes-in-syria-do-little-to-aid-assad-regime-1.379000
The daily barrage of air attacks on targets across Syria, which have killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, have secured only minor victories for the embattled Syrian government, according to rights groups and think tanks monitoring the conflict.
By intervening to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad, Russia has cemented its role as a regional powerhouse and ensured Moscow's influence over any political transition in Syria, analysts say.
But the military campaign, which began Sept. 30, has exposed the limits of Russian air power to change the dynamics on the battlefield.
Russian warplanes have also dropped what appear to be crude bombs on hospitals, homes and other civilian structures, military analysts and rights groups say. The strikes have deepened Syria's already dire humanitarian crisis.
"In nearly five years [of war], I have never seen the situation so bad," Zaidoun al-Zoabi, the head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations, said of the past six weeks in Syria. "And we have every indication it will get worse."
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/russian-airstrikes-in-syria-do-little-to-aid-assad-regime-1.379000