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[h=4]Report: Iran pushed Russia to intervene in Syria, Iraq[/h]Tehran apparently lobbied hard for Moscow<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to play a larger role in conflicts in Syria and Iraq,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>including by conducting airstrikes,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>media report.
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President Obama has said that Russian air strikes in Syria won't draw the U.S. into a "proxy war," but Russia's involvement still poses major implications for the U.S. military. VPC
Image shows a Russian warship in the Caspian Sea launching missiles at Islamic State targets in Syria. Photo is from Oct. 7 and was supplied by the Russian Defense Ministry.(Photo: EPA)
Tehran apparently lobbied hard for Moscow<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to play a larger role in conflicts in Syria and Iraq,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>including by conducting airstrikes,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>media report.
The head of Iran’s elite special forces unit<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Quds Force,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Gen. Qassem Soleimani, traveled to Russia in August to forcefully argue the case for military intervention in the region by President Vladimir Putin, the Associated Press said Thursday. Its story cited anonymous Iraqi government officials.
The AP said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Soleimani met with Putin and they reviewed maps, surveillance photos and shared intelligence.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Soleimani also met with senior Russian military officials to discuss plans for a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>joint intelligence-sharing center in Baghdad<span style="color: Red;">*</span>between Iraq, Syria, Iran and Russia. That center is now operational.
USA TODAY could not immediately confirm the veracity of the report.
USA TODAY
U.S. plane in Syria forced to avoid Russian aircraft
The Iraqi<span style="color: Red;">*</span>officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the secret meeting. Representatives from the Iranian and Russian governments declined to comment. If Soleimani did visit Russia this summer, if would have been in contravention of a United Nations travel-sanctions ban.
Iran's government is a major supporter<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Syrian President Bashar Assad and also has close ties to the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Shiite-led leadership in Iraq’s U.S.-backed government. Syria's ruling Assad government is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Alawite, often described as a sect of Shiite Islam. The majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims.
For months, Iraq has complained<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that the U.S.-led coalition's airstrikes against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have not been as effective as they had hoped and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said he would "welcome" Russian airstrikes in Iraq against ISIL.
Washington has so far refused to work with the Assad government, insisting that the president must leave power.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Russia's recent involvement<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— on Thursday, four of its warships in the Caspian Sea carried out 26 missile strikes against targets in Syria and it has been conducting airstrikes since Sept. 30<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— reflects a shifting of alliances amid hesitant U.S. policy in Syria.
Syria's civil war has raged since 2011, with as many as 40 Syrian Sunni-dominated<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rebel groups uniting to fight Assad. His security forces have killed tens of thousands of Syrians, in some instances allegedly with chemical weapons.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>But the rebel groups<span style="color: Red;">*</span>are also, at times, fighting with one another and represent various degrees of moderation, complicating Washington's effort to pick a side.
Meanwhile, the Russian airstrikes<span style="color: Red;">*</span>allowed Syrian government forces on Thursday to expand their ground troop presence deeper into ISIL territory.
USA TODAY
Russia fires missiles from warships into Syria amid new escalation
Separately on Thursday,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, said the security<span style="color: Red;">*</span>alliance's defense ministers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>consider the implications for NATO’s own security in light of the “troubling escalation of Russian military activities” in Syria.
"My concern is that the Russians are not mainly targeting ISIS<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but they are targeting other opposition groups and they are supporting the (Assad)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>regime," Stoltenberg said.
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