Russian transport planes are flying military supplies to Syria over Iraqi and Iranian airspace, sparking new tensions with Washington, which has tried to stop the shipments, according to media reports.
During the past week, at least seven Russian transport planes have carried supplies over Iraq and Iran to an airfield in Latakia, Syria, to bolster the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the New York Times reported on Monday. Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, told Russian news agencies that the flights, which also brought Russian advisers to Syria to train Assad loyalists, would continue regardless of U.S. objections.
The U.S. is training and equipping Syrian moderates in the fight against the Islamic State group, and has said it welcomes other countries to join that coalition. But the Pentagon has criticized Russia’s efforts to bolster Assad, saying any support of his regime will further hurt the country that has already been fighting a civil war for more than four years.
“Our concern would be any effort to bolster the Assad regime right now would potentially be destabilizing,” Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary, said on Thursday. “So that’s our primary concern here, that it’s not going to bolster the fight against the Islamic State. Our focus is on fighting ISIL, and we think that further support for the Assad regime could actually be counterproductive.”
Bulgaria, a NATO member, announced last week that it would not allow Russian supply planes to fly in its airspace. The U.S. asked Greece to close its airspace to Russian planes headed to Syria, but as of last week, Greece had not complied with the request, Reuters reported.
The U.S. also asked the Iraqi government not to allow Syria-bound Russian planes in its airspace, but Iraqis simply said they would “look into the matter,” according to the New York Times report.
While Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is receiving support from the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State, Iraqis are also being advised by Iran and is buying weapons from Moscow, the Times reported.
