Russian ‘visitors’ Receive Warm Welcome in coastal Syria 

Assad’s seaside bastion of Latakia sees major military build-up;

locals hail ‘the melody of Russian planes’

 

The flurry of Russian activity, both military and diplomatic, appears to have already prompted a significant shift in global efforts to end Syria’s conflict. In the space of just 24 hours, both Ankara and Berlin announced this week that Assad could be a part of the solution to the civil war.

 

US President Barack Obama, who first said back in August 2011

that Assad “must step down,” is to meet his Russian counterpart

Vladimir Putin for talks on 09/28/15.

 

A senior official in Syria described Russia’s military involvement as a “turning point” for the war.

“Russia intends to show that there is no solution without Assad and his army must be part of the fight against Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State jihadist group.

“Moscow wants to remind the United States that its relationship with Damascus dates back more than 50 years,” he said. “It’s also a message to regional countries that Russia intends to become a central player again.”