Air strikes were launched in Western Syria Wednesday in what US officials are calling Russia’s biggest play in the region since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, according to Reuters.
President Vladimir Putin with the unanimous support from his parliament backed the intervention in the Middle East but was quick to put limitations on it’s complete involvement saying that only air force would be utilized and that it would be only temporary.
The Homs area was targeted specifically by the Kremlin even though it is not an ISIS stronghold at the moment. It is, however, crucial to President Bashar al-Assad’s control of western Syria, where Russia operates a naval facility.
On Monday at a meeting of the United Nations, Putin criticized the current US-led coalition that has been bombing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria saying that a more coordinated effort was needed to really defeat the militants.
Moscow is already facing challenges internationally following the Ukrainian conflict that took place over the summer. As a result, Russia’s economy has suffered from Western sanctions over the action as well as low oil prices globally.
The command center in Baghdad has been working with Russian military experts over the summer to coordinate air strikes and ground troops in Syria but stressed that this new effort would be limited and not open-ended.