Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The presence of the "Islamic State" (ISIS) terrorist organization on the territory of Syria and Iraq and the continuation of military operations against militants show that military stability is not expected to come in the region any soon.
Syrian government said that the West actively supports militants, supplies them with weapons, and it is clear that the Syrian army is not able to confront terrorist groups as well as the armed opposition.
Syrian army has lost all its strength hoping that soon it will be able to destroy the armed opposition. However, there are currently no specific evidence that Syrian army held even one single operation against the ISIS.
Based on this, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) claims that namely the Assad government is also connected with the fact that the ISIS militants intensify activity in the country.
Though Hezbollah supports Assad in the fight against the armed opposition and the ISIS, the inability to completely destroy enemies paves the way for more force in Syria. This is where Russia comes in.
Earlier, numerous articles as well as photos proving the presence of Russian troops in Syria appeared in western and Turkish media. The outlets claimed that the Russian military is involved in military operations against the armed opposition and the ISIS. The Russian side denied this at the time.
But on Sept.18, spokesman for Russia's president Dmitry Peskov said Russia is ready to consider Syria's appeal for military assistance. Earlier, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that Damascus could turn to Russia for military help.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Russian servicemen have been in Syria for many years, by assisting the Syrian army to assimilate the military equipment and prepare it for using in the anti-terror operations, Intefax reported.
There is no doubt that sooner or later Syria will be forced to appeal to Russia for help. But the Russian servicemen's activity against the militants in Syria will lead to nothing positive.
Although all countries officially have the same position over the fight against the Islamic State (IS), they have great disagreement over the fight against the Free Syrian Army.
In this regard, US Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Lavrov on September 12. Moreover, Turkey is also greatly concerned about the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Ankara's anxiety is connected with the fact that there is no difference between IS and Free Syrian Army for Russia and President Assad.
If Russia is involved in the military operations in Syria, Turkey's closest ally - Free Syrian Army will be on the brink of destruction. This means the complete failure of Ankara's policy. Ankara believes that Russia must not sacrifice its relations with Turkey for the sake of Assad's power.
If we take into account the ethnic, religious, as well as the general situation in Syria, we can say that the expected activity of the Russian servicemen in Syria is first a serious risk for Russia.
The growing conflict, the presence and the influx of staunch "jihadists" to Syria gives a reason to say that if the Russian servicemen supported by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are involved in the military operations, Syria may become "second Afghanistan" for Russia.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu