A fleet of eight Russian warships entered the Mediterranean on October 26.
Led by Russia’s only aircraft carrier the fleet departed the Barents Sea port of Severmorsk on October 15. The ships could reinforce the Russian military presence in Syria centered on a naval base in the coastal city of Tartus.
An American weekly news magazine Time reports that Russian warships in Mediterranean have prompted fears among Syrian rebels.
But for the exhausted residents of the rebel-held section of the city of Aleppo the prospect of a renewed Russian or regime attack on their half of the city simply represents more of the same after more than five years of revolt and civil war, according to Time.
“Since the Russians already have a military base on the ground, this carrier wouldn’t make much difference I guess,” Wissam Zarqa, a teacher living in the besieged opposition-controlled eastern section of Aleppo, reportedly said in a text message.
The Russian air campaign was launched in Syria in September 2015. Time says that a study by the independent London-based watchdog group Airwars found that Russian airstrikes resulted in a claimed minimum of 6,656 civilian deaths as of October 11, 2016.
Meanwhile, Russia’s government says it is currently maintaining a pause in airstrikes that has been in force since October 18. But on Tuesday Russian officials suggested the unilateral ceasefire could come to an end if rebels did not end an offensive they are waging in an attempt to pierce the siege of the eastern portion of Aleppo, where an estimated 300,000 civilians are surrounded by pro-government forces.
According to Amnesty International, up to 48 people including 17 children have been killed in the opposition’s offensive which began on October 28. The opposition groups include a broad spectrum of groups of varying political outlooks, but Russia regards the all the groups fighting the regime as terrorist organizations.
“It is time for our Western colleagues to determine who they are fighting against: terrorists or Russia,” said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in televised remarks on Tuesday. Shoigu also said efforts to revive peace negotiations have been “postponed for an indefinite period.”
