Russia’s air blitz to dictate peace terms

AP, Moscow :
Moscow joined the fight in Syria to return to relevance in international diplomacy. It has succeeded by anyone’s measure – and Russia hopes to use its air power to dictate the terms of a cease-fire and prospective peace talks.
Russian warplanes have helped the Syrian army make broad advances and close in on the country’s biggest city, Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Western-backed opposition is fractured and weakened. So as talk turns to a cease-fire, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Moscow’s sole ally in the region, is in a stronger position than he has been in years.
What’s more, Russia has cast itself as an indispensable global player that holds the key to the settlement of a nearly five-year conflict that has flooded Europe with refugees. And the United States can’t hope to push forward its agenda of ending the war without overtures to Russia. Not that there aren’t challenges ahead for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other regional players that have backed Assad’s foes are loath to see the Syrian ruler strengthen his grip on power. They have been mulling the deployment of ground troops to Syria, which could trigger broader hostilities and raise the threat of confrontation between their forces and the Russian military. For its part, the U.S. sees Assad as the chief obstacle to peace and has been reluctant to engage in any military-to-military dialogue with Russia.
Still, Putin appears eager to raise the stakes, hoping that Assad’s siege of Aleppo will further strengthen Russia’s hand.
The impact of Moscow’s air strikes appears particularly significant given the modest size of the Russian force – just a few dozen jets. But they have operated at a frenetic pace, each flying several sorties a day for a total of more than 6,000 combat missions in 4½ months.
The campaign, Russia’s first military operation outside the former Soviet Union since the 1991 Soviet collapse, has demonstrated the new capability of the nation’s resurgent military and allowed Russia to test its latest weapons in combat for the first time.
In one example, the military tested its new long-range cruise missiles, firing them from all possible launch platforms – strategic bombers, surface warships in the Caspian Sea and a submarine near Syria.
Moscow has denied any intention to open more air bases in Syria in addition to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, the well-protected heartland of Assad’s Alawite sect. The Russian military says it makes little sense to allocate extra assets since it takes just 15 minutes for Russian warplanes from Hemeimeem to reach any area in Syria.