Syrien

[Schneemann]

Das Eingreifen russischer Streitkräfte (bereits vor einigen Tagen geschehen bzw. seit Tagen laufend) scheint den syrischen Regierungstruppen zumindest eine gewisse Entlastung zu bringen. Offenbar gelang es, mehrere Ziele wieder einzunehmen:

Syrian forces make gains under Russian air cover

Government forces capture village of Atshan in Hama province from opposition fighters, activists and Syrian TV say. [...] Government forces seized Atshan village on Saturday from opposition fighters, state television and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. [...] With support from Russian air strikes, they appear to be targeting the town of Khan Sheikhun, just across the provincial border in Idlib and on a highway connecting Aleppo and Damascus, the AFP news agency reported.

The road is cut by rebel forces in several places north of Khan Sheikhun. Hama province has been a key target for Russian air strikes that began on September 30, along with parts of the neighbouring provinces of Latakia and Idlib. [...]

Moscow has insisted it is bombing ISIL fighters and other "terrorist groups", but sources on the ground have told Al Jazeera the raids were taking place in areas with little ISIL presence.

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Allerdings scheint sich auch abzuzeichen, dass sich die russischen Angriffe eben nicht nur auf Islamistengruppen konzentrieren, sondern auch auf jedwede andere Opposition - was ja auch befürchtet worden war. Damit wird ersichtlich, dass sich die russische Initiative nicht vorrangig gegen den IS (oder andere extremistische Gruppen) richtet, sondern vornehmlich auch darauf zielt, das Regime von Assad zu (unter)stützen.

Im Rahmen der russischen Luftschläge wird zudem der Vorwurf seitens von Menschenrechtsgruppen laut, dass neuartige russische Clusterbomben eingesetzt worden sein sollen:

Syria: New Russian-Made Cluster Munition Reported

(Beirut) – An advanced type of Russian cluster munition was used in an airstrike southwest of Aleppo on October 4, 2015, Human Rights Watch said today. The use of the weapon near the village of Kafr Halab raises grave concerns that Russia is either using cluster munitions in Syria or providing the Syrian air force with new types of cluster munitions to use.

New photographs and videos also suggest renewed use of air-dropped cluster munitions as well as ground-fired Russian-made cluster munition rockets as part of the joint Russian-Syrian offensive in northern Syria. [...]

Human Rights Watch has documented the use of cluster munitions in the war in Syria since 2012. Syrian government forces began using air-dropped cluster bombs in mid-2012 and then cluster munition rockets in attacks that are believed to be continuing, while the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) used cluster munition rockets in the second half of 2014. No other group is known or reported to have used cluster munitions in Syria.

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Schneemann.