Moscow – March 18 — Russian warplanes are continuing to conduct airstrikes in Syria, Russian military officials said Friday, making clear that the Kremlin intends to maintain muscular support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad despite an announced military drawdown earlier this week.
The announcement came a day after President Vladimir Putin said Russia could redeploy to Syria “within hours” if it wanted to. Russian warplanes are conducting 20 to 25 sorties a day to support the Syrian army’s attempt to reconquer the ancient city of Palmyra, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, a spokesman for the Russian military’s General Staff, said Friday.
That pace is slower than the more than 100 sorties a day the Russians were conducting in early February, before a shaky cease-fire took effect. But it is still a powerful indication that Putin has not abandoned Assad despite a hardline stance taken by Syrian negotiators at peace talks in Geneva this week.
The still-significant pace of strikes suggests that Russia retains a substantial number of warplanes at its Hmeimim air base in Syria’s Latakia province even after the drawdown Putin announced Monday.
Russia has said it plans to leave its powerful S-400 anti-aircraft missile system in place in Syria, a deterrent against Turkey, Saudi Arabia and any other nation that might be tempted to engage in its own aerial intervention against Assad.