DEBKAfile’s military sources say there are six reasons why Russia has shifted is reliance in Syria and the Middle East on helicopters rather than on bombers and fighter planes.
1. To adapt is aerial assets to expanded military cooperation with the US air force in Syrian air space. It is possible that we will soon see US and Russian helicopters attacking Syrian terror targets together, especially ISIS. Russian helicopters may even be deployed in support of US special operations forces in this arena.
2. US-Russian negotiations on joint air force operations are already underway, with a couple of provisos set by the Obama administration, especially the discontinuation of Syrian air force strikes against Syrian rebel groups supported by the US.
DEBKAfile counter-terror and intelligence sources report that Washington and Moscow have not agreed on which of these rebel forces are to be immune. The debate centers on rebel groups close to al-Qaeda, ISIS or other radical Muslim organizations.
3. The continued US failure to successfully wield CIA-trained and armed Syrian rebel forces is forcing the Americans to fall back increasingly on the Russian forces in Syria. In recent weeks these pro-US forces were repeatedly beaten back by ISIS before achieving their mission.
The latest examples are: the bitter defeat of The New Syrian Army near Abu Kamal in eastern Syria, and the failure of Syrian Democratic Forces – SDF, another pro-US force, operating in northern Syria near the Turkish border, to capture Manjib from ISIS, despite aerial support.
4. As the US has withdrawn its aircraft carriers from the Mediterranean, the arrival of the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier ready to go into action in October will make the Russian navy the only military force to deploy an aircraft carrier in the region.
5. Since Moscow and Ankara buried the hatchet earlier this month, the Russian air force no longer needs to maintain advanced fighters jets in Syria against the Turkish air force.
6. The Russians are also aiming to reach an agreement with Turkey for joint aerial operations against terror targets in Syria.
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