Russia's activity in Syria has split the US administration

“The Obama administration and the US intelligence community have concluded that Russia intends to launch combat missions from a new air base in Syria,” writes the The bloomberg view journalist Josh Rogin.

But the US government does not have a single point of view on what should be done in this connection - either try to confront Russia on Syrian territory, or, as some suggest in the White House, to cooperate with Russia in Syria in the fight against the Islamic State (IG ).

In the White House, some believe that the priority task is to involve more countries in the fight against IS. They are seriously considering a plan to come to terms with the buildup of Russian forces in Syria, and then jointly with Moscow to coordinate the strikes of the United States and Russia in the north of Syria.

But “for many in the Obama administration, especially those working on Syria, accepting Russia's involvement in the fighting is tantamount to admitting that the campaign to remove Assad has failed,” the article says. “In addition, they are afraid that Russia, under the pretext of fighting ISIS, will attack Syrian opposition groups that are fighting against Assad.”

“The Russians' intention is not to fight IS, but to keep Assad in power,” said an unnamed administration official.

The publication claims: judging by US intelligence data, Russia intends to send forces to Syria capable of hitting ground targets. “Two American officials told me that intelligence has collected evidence that Russia plans to deploy MiG-31 and Su-25 aircraft to Latakia in the coming days and weeks,” the correspondent writes.

According to the publication, the situation has changed dramatically since July, when Obama thought that Putin was distancing himself from Assad.

“But since then, Putin has been avoiding a serious conversation with the United States about a diplomatic settlement in Syria. Last week, at the same time as the Russian military buildup, Putin publicly said that Assad is ready for dialogue with a “healthy” opposition. This is very different from the process the US is promoting - the idea of ​​a new round of negotiations between the regime and the Syrian opposition, which is supported by the West.

According to the newspaper, the Obama administration fears that the United States does not have real leverage to repel Russia in Syria.

Obama has several options. The first is new US sanctions against Russia. “But the penalties associated with Ukraine have not affected Putin’s position, and European countries are unlikely to join the new package of sanctions,” the author writes. The second option is for the United States to warn Russia that the opposition has the right to attack its base. “But this may push Putin to further strengthen the contingent,” Rogin believes. The third option is to prevent the supply of Russian weapons, “but this will require putting pressure on countries like Iraq to oppose Putin and Iran, and they may not agree.”

The author of the article also believes: “The White House is reasonably afraid of exacerbating friction with Russia in Syria, but cooperation with Russian forces on the ground or in the air will destroy the remaining trust in America of the Syrian opposition and the Gulf countries that patronize it.” Their suspicion will be strengthened that Obama is working to preserve the Assad regime, Rogin explains.