Sune Engel Rasmussen and Thomas Grove
WSJ, Dec. 7, 2024
“To see Russian planes leave Syria as rebel forces move onward towards their air bases, and their assets in Damascus fall, this would be so devastating for the Russian image of itself. It would be akin to a Saigon moment for them.”
A fast-advancing rebel offensive in Syria threatens to dislodge Russia from a strategic linchpin that Moscow has used for a decade to project power in the Middle East, in the Mediterranean and into the African continent.
It also challenges Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to portray Moscow as a flag bearer for an alternative global order to rival Western liberalism, and his defense of the Syrian regime as evidence of successful pushback against American dominance in the region.
A coalition of Syrian rebels launched a surprise offensive last week, reigniting a dormant civil war and seizing significant swaths of territory in Syria, which hosts important Russian air and naval bases. The rebels have already taken the cities of Aleppo and Hama and on Saturday, they said they seized the crucial city of Homs.
The Russian air force has been supporting Syrian government forces by carrying out airstrikes on rebel positions. The Russian military also plans to carry out naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Russian state news agency TASS said.
Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war in 2015 to prop up President Bashar al-Assad against an armed uprising prompted by the Arab Spring, giving it a role as an influential foreign power in the Middle East. It sought to leverage its relations with rival powers such as Iran and Israel, as well as Turkey and Gulf states, to mediate conflicts and claim status as a regional power broker. ….SOURCE