Russian Boots in Syria?

[Az_esm]

And it is an Anti-Terror unit (if it really is). What exactly are they gonna do? fight the whole FSA by themselves? Now if we are talking of an Aircraft carrier and various aircrafts, then yes, people can justify their whining.

I guess they are ordinary conscript marines. And they are more like Anti-Pirate)
There are much faster ways existing to deploy Russian AT professional team to Syria than to locate them on oiler.

[artjomh]

*sigh*

Tartous is not a naval base, it is an MTO (maintenance and resupply station). It is used to resupply Russian naval task group escorting merchants in the Gulf of Aden. The Iman has brought a new batch of supplies and provisions. As a naval vessel, Iman is protected by a contingent of marines.

Mystery solved?

[Raden5]

na, only some countries are given green light to blow other nations cities up.

I asked "who has a right"?
The answer - please...

[sepheronx]

I asked "who has a right"?
The answer - please...

Obviously no one.

[Silent Reader]

I read this on German news a few days ago.

They also said they had anti-terror units with them - but their purpose was to evacuate Russian citizens if needed.
Also besides the Iman there is a Russian SIGINT / intelligence ship off shore as well according to the news I read.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

You can't call Yahoo, or CBS, an independent source of information here. They're just regurgitating what "Mil Int" sources in the US are chucking out.
And that's probably coming from tel Aviv. So far, this seems to be a single-source item.

Nice attempt to blame Israel for this.

[Az_esm]

Like Grozny? Seriously Walt when are you manning up and going to join the Russian army you love so much from the safety of Canada?

Grozny was founded by Russians btw. And was a Russian city till the collapse of SU. Just for you to know.
Do we need to start to compare situations when part of your country is taken by rebels and when you are bombing land from thousands km from your country? There could be different reasons, but they are incomparable in such way.

[Universals]

*sigh*

Tartous is not a naval base, it is an MTO (maintenance and resupply station). It is used to resupply Russian naval task group escorting merchants in the Gulf of Aden. The Iman has brought a new batch of supplies and provisions. As a naval vessel, Iman is protected by a contingent of marines.

Mystery solved?

x2...Was about to post the same thing.

Funny enough, initial news reports on yahoo and ABC quoted Debka as the source (which was later removed). LOL

[Sashko]

'The wise' are rationalizing the possibility by saying they're there to 'protect' Russian technicians - with which, apparently, Syria is awash.

What else a single unit of marines, no matter how elite, possibly do? Sending them into combat is risky and senseless. Training Syrians will take months. Their every move beyond Tartus will make them an overnight media stars.

So logic would dictate that if they are indeed there, the only viable purpose is to protect the assets and make sure that some Ivan Ivanovich the sonar technician doesn't end up on YouTube with a green flag and bearded men behind him. With recent wave of bombings in Damascus, Tartus looks like a very juicy target.

[Az_esm]

*sigh*

Tartous is not a naval base, it is an MTO (maintenance and resupply station). It is used to resupply Russian naval task group escorting merchants in the Gulf of Aden. The Iman has brought a new batch of supplies and provisions. As a naval vessel, Iman is protected by a contingent of marines.

Mystery solved?

Your rationality is not interesting. Don't prevent ppl to compare location of mighty warship "Iman":

with bombing.

[Mujo2000]

Not enough you sell them all those weapons, now you also sell boots to the Syrians? Eh Russkies?

[themacedonian]

This is being played as " see see foreign forces are interfering as well so we should jump in as well ..." by someone

[Raden5]

And on this "terrible russian ship" sailed "10,000 bloodthirsty russian cossacks" and "3000 Buk-M3". [claim unnamed sources]

[Hisroyalhighness]

Not enough you sell them all those weapons, now you also sell boots to the Syrians? Eh Russkies?

Yeah a squad or two from SpN ToF(Marine Spetsnaz) is definitely gonna tip the odds toward Assad's favor.


Ontopic: This reminds me of a similar situation when Russian builders were sent to repair infrastructure devastated from the 2006 Lebanon war, Chechen commandos from ZAPAD were sent to guard them.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

This is being played as " see see foreign forces are interfering as well so we should jump in as well ..." by someone

No one in their right mind is going to say "Russian ground troops are in Syria, so we should invade and fight Russians!" If anything, this is going to be used as an argument against intervention, coupled with a "I told you so, we should have intervened sooner" by some.