Russian Special Forces Enter Syria Battle After Assad's Troops Fail To Take Rebel Bastion

Kremlin has deployed special forces to fight alongside Syrian army troops which had failed to seize the last opposition bastion in the more than two-month assault in north-western Syria.

Russian officers and troops had been directing operations and using snipers and anti-tank missiles so far in the fight, but this is the first time Moscow is sending ground troops into the battlefront. According to the Moscow Times, the Russian ground forces entered the battle with government forces to seize the strategic Humaymat hilltops in northern Hama that fell into rebel hands last week, regaining it after previous successive attempts by the army failed.

Captain Naji Mustafa, the spokesman for Turkey-backed National Liberation Front (NLF) coalition for rebel factions, said the Russians, with their special forces, are now directly intervening in the battle. Mustafa explained that when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces failed to advance, Russia intervened directly after a massive bombing of the area with more than 200 sorties.

But he added that Russian-backed operations in and around Idlib province have yielded little or nothing for Moscow and Bashar al-Assad. “Russia did not only fail but has been exposed to defeat,” Mustafa claimed.

Jamil al-Saleh, the chief of a the rebel group Jaish al-Izza, said Moscow’s deployment came only after elite Syrian troops known as the Tiger Forces and allied militias were unable to budge rebels from the territory they hold. “In light of the size of artillery and aerial bombing, the Russians and the regime had expected to seize large areas,” al-Saleh said.

According to Qantara.de, the Russian-led assault has not only left dozens of villages and towns in ruins but as per the United Nations, forced over 3,000 civilians to flee to the safety of areas closer to the Turkish border.

But the heavy assault troops have not helped defeat the militants and other jihadi groups who have been standing their ground.