U.S. official: Russia sends troops to Syria as peace hopes fade

NBC News reports: Russia is sending armed troops to Syria amid escalating violence there, United States military officials told NBC News Friday, in a move certain to frustrate Western efforts to put pressure on the regime of President Bashir Assad.

Moscow has sent a ship carrying a small contingent of combat forces to guard Russia’s deep-water port and military base at the Syrian city of Tartus, the US officials said.

The U.S. officials also said Russia has not sent additional attack helicopters to the Syrian government, but replacement parts for the Russian helicopters the Syrians are already flying.

It comes after the conflict was declared by France on Wednesday to be a full-blown civil war.

The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday a recent spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence and could prompt the unarmed force to pull out.

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2 thoughts on “U.S. official: Russia sends troops to Syria as peace hopes fade”

  1. dmaak112

    This is the same department of state that falsely accused the Russians of supplying attack helicopters to the Syria government. What is missing from the War in Context is the context. Looking back over all the reporting of the Syrian rebellion, it is blatant that we and our European and Arab allies had an agenda, quite early, to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Asad. Freedom and democracy are ruses to gain the support of the public for another Mideast war. As we have yet to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, what is the likelihood that the Syrian war will be added to the trillions of dollars of debt we are already in? Democrat or Republican, we love war.

  2. Paul Woodward

    Yep, Western imperialist propaganda — that’s what I promise to provide readers at this site every day! The only thing that baffles me is why it’s taking so long for NATO to launch their attack. But wait! Here’s this amazing piece of reporting from the extraordinary investigative journalist, Thierry Meyssan:

    In a few days, perhaps as early as Friday, June 15, at noon, the Syrians wanting to watch their national TV stations will see them replaced on their screens by TV programs created by the CIA. Studio-shot images will show massacres that are blamed on the Syrian Government, people demonstrating, ministers and generals resigning from their posts, President Al-Assad fleeing, the rebels gathering in the big city centers, and a new government installing itself in the presidential palace.

    This operation of disinformation, directly managed from Washington by Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communication, aims at demoralizing the Syrians in order to pave the way for a coup d’etat. NATO, discontent about the double veto of Russia and China, will thus succeed in conquering Syria without attacking the country illegally. Whichever judgment you might have formed on the actual events in Syria, a coup d’etat will end all hopes of democratization.

    I guess with the White House handling this disinformation campaign, they’ve persuaded all their lackeys in the media to keep quiet about it. Or maybe it hasn’t happened yet. Meyssan did qualify his noon Friday prediction with the qualification, “perhaps.”

    And now there’s this shocker: the EU is getting really tough on Assad and his supporters. No more truffles, pearls, expensive wines, pricey cigars and extravagant watches — at least they won’t be able to import them from the European Union. That’s really going to make life difficult in Damascus.

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