Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Syrian conflict

Will the EU-Turkey Deal Work? ( Source- IDSA / Author- K.P Fabian)

European Union- Turkey deal on Syria ( Image credits- VOA/ Author) Source- IDSA Author- K.P Fabian After long negotiations in Brussels, Turkey and the 28-member European Union (EU) have signed a deal on Syrian refugees that is both complex and controversial. The deal was inked at the EU headquarters on March 18, with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu beaming and his EU counterparts looking relieved, but far from beaming. Turkey has extracted a good deal for itself from the EU. The EU found itself in a weak negotiating position, overwhelmed by the inundation of Syrian refugees coming from Turkey threatening its very foundations, the Schengen Agreement and much more. At the same time, it is difficult to dismiss the thought that the EU could have played a smarter game with its weak hand. While it is too soon to say whether the deal is going to work out to the satisfaction of its makers, primarily, President Erdogan of Turkey and Chancellor Merkel of Germany, there a

Russian Jet Down in Turkey: Misstep or Game-Changer? ( Source- The National Interest / Author- Nikolas K. Gvosdev)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Dmitry Terekhov Source- The National Interest Author-  Nikolas K. Gvosdev As we continue to gather more information on the shoot-down of a Russian aircraft by Turkish planes, the incident forces not only Russia and Turkey but all NATO countries (including the United States) as well as other regional players to reconsider their positions and assumptions. Over the coming hours, days and weeks, we will have a better sense of whether this will be treated as a tragic mistake or whether it will be seen as a game-changer that alters the trajectory of the Syrian conflict and Russia's relationship with the West. In the immediate aftermath, whatever progress Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan achieved on the sidelines of the Antalya G-20 summit is now completely lost. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's trip to Turkey, which was designed to get the Turkish-Russian agenda back on track, has now been cancelled. The shoot-do

Saudi Arabia And Russia Clash Over Syria – Analysis ( Source- Eurasia Review / Author- Chris Zambelis)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / VOA Source- Eurasia Review Author- Chris Zambelis The full repercussions of Russia’s growing involvement in the Syria conflict in the form of overt military action have yet to be realized. Until now, Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’athist regime, in concert with ongoing support furnished by Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and Iraq, has proved critical to its survival in the face of an ever expansive insurgency. Despite its embattled disposition, the Ba’athist regime remains without question the most powerful actor in Syria’s civil war. The conflict has come to be typified by a muddle of armed opposition factions represented by competing radical Islamist currents led by Daesh (“Islamic State”) and al-Qaeda’s Syrian-based franchise Jabhat al-Nusra and a host of other hardline Islamist militants that straddle the ideological divide between both camps. The far less impactful yet nevertheless notable cohort of insurge

Russia Has Its Own 'A-10' Warthog in Syria: Enter the Su-25 Frogfoot ( Source- The National Interest / Author- Dave Majumdar_

Sukhoi SU-25 FrogFoot ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Dmitry A. Mottl) Source- The National Interest Author- Dave Majumdar While top-of-the-line Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-H fighters and Su-34 Fullback bombers have captured the lion’s share of attention, the single most effective Russian aircraft deployed to Syria is the venerable Su-25 Frogfoot. The Russian air force has deployed a dozen of the slow, low-altitude flying tanks to its base in Latakia. But it’s not clear which version of the jet Russia has sent to Syria, however it’s probable that these are the latest Su-25SM version of the aircraft. “The Russian air force will use the Frogfoots to support the Assad regime in the same way the USAF is using the A-10 Warthog to support the Iraqi government,” one veteran U.S. Air Force aviator told me. Another senior Air Force official agreed. “Frogfoots are the best air-to-ground platform for this type of fight for sure.” The much-vaunted Su-34 Fullback bombe