PHOTO: President Assad is hosted by Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow, October 21, 2015
Complementing EA’s analysis of Russia’s military and political strategy inside Syria, I spoke with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s The World last Friday as Moscow convened an international conference in Vienna.
The discussion focused on Russia’s “race against time” to prop up the Assad regime.
The Russian goal is to get international acceptance of President Assad in power for an indefinite period, but say for at least the next six months.
If they don’t get that, the problem is that the Syrian military — which, with the help of the Russian airstrikes, carrying out six offensives in the past three weeks — is not only failing to take territory but is facing counter-attacks by the rebels and the Islamic State.
If the Syrian military can’t even hold ground, that’s a major embarrasment for Moscow because it shows weakness rather than strength.
