(War on the Rocks) Dmitry Gorenburg and Michael Kofman - There is no Russian withdrawal from Syria, but rather a drawdown of the air contingent present in Latakia. Putin simply moved pieces on the board, without altering the equation. It constitutes a political reframing of Russia's intervention in order to normalize Moscow's military presence in Syria, and make it permanent, while convincing Russians at home that the campaign is over. What is happening is a drawdown of forces that were surged to Syria in the aftermath of the shootdown of a Russian Su-24 by Turkey in November 2015 and the intensified fighting over the winter. Dmitry Gorenburg is an associate at Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Michael Kofman is a Fellow at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute.
2016-03-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive