Russia Moves Its First Tactical Fighter Jets to Base in Syria

Russia Moves Its First Tactical Fighter Jets to Base in Syria
Move raises U.S. concerns Moscow will play direct role in helping Bashar al-Assad
The arrival of the jets was first detected hours before Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke to his Russian counterpart for the first time this year. ENLARGE
The arrival of the jets was first detected hours before Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke to his Russian counterpart for the first time this year. Photo: Associated Press
By Dion Nissenbaum in Washington and
Nathan Hodge in Moscow
Updated Sept. 18, 2015 6:34 p.m. ET
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Russia has moved jet fighters to a base in Syria for the first time, U.S. defense officials said Friday, a major military escalation that heightens fears Moscow is set to play a more direct role in propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The deployment of a small number of tactical jets came just hours before U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke to his Russian counterpart about Moscow’s deepening role in Syria, a call that ended a long pause in high-level military communication between the U.S. and Russia.

U.S. defense officials said the nearly hourlong conversation was designed in part to help avert a confrontation in Syria between the U.S. and Russia, which have long been on opposite sides of the 4½-year-old civil war.

Russia’s decision to send in jets, however, is the clearest indication Moscow is preparing to use military might to help Mr. Assad as he clings to power.

U.S. policy in Syria, which has for years sought to avoid getting drawn into the protracted and bloody conflict, is at a turning point, prompted by the flood of refugees into Europe and the surprising Russian escalation.
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In addition, the Obama administration is considering whether to scrap its troubled plan to arm moderate Syrians to battle the extremists of Islamic State, which controls much of Syria.

The direct involvement of Russian forces in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Mr. Assad would mark a new twist that could put American pilots, who regularly fly surveillance flights and airstrike missions, in substantially greater danger.
[link to www.wsj.com]