© Vasily Batanov / RIA Novos
Russian Navy warship
Russia can strike positions of Islamic State militants in Syria from its ships based in the Mediterranean Sea anytime should the command decide to do so, a senior Russian general said.
Colonel General Andrey Kartapolov said the Russian warships in the Mediterranean can "definitely" be used to deliver strikes in Syria the way the Russian fleet in the Caspian Sea was already used.
"Our naval group in the Mediterranean is mostly used for supplying goals. But to ensure that our supply lines are not disrobed, we have a group of warships there too. This group also provides antiaircraft protection four our base [in Tartus]," he said in an interview to
Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper published on Friday.
General Kartapolov heads Operations in the Russian general staff. He was personally supervising the creation of the so-called coordination center in Baghdad, which Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran created to share intelligence on terrorist forces and coordinate their war effort. The center plays a big part in fighting the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS or ISIL), the general told the newspaper.
"We realized that doing what the US-led coalition does and only bombing ISIL targets from the air would not allow defeating it. It requires doing things on the ground. The only force [in Syria] that can fight on the ground is the Syrian government army," he said. "We also had to join the forces of the nations and forces fighting ISIL on the ground to coordinate our effort."
He said the US was invited to take part in the center's work, but ignored it, apparently because of hurt pride.
Comment: Hopefully more NATO countries join Slovakia's stance on the Syrian conflict.