Russian military intervention in Syria
- Date
- 30 September 2015
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Syria
- Era
- Contemporary
- Significance
On 30 September 2015 Russia launched a military intervention in Syria at the request of President Bashar al-Assad, whose government then controlled only a fraction of the country and was losing ground to rebel and jihadist forces.
Within hours of parliamentary authorisation, Russian aircraft began airstrikes, officially framed as a campaign against the Islamic State but in practice concentrated against a range of anti-Assad opposition groups in western Syria. The intervention marked Moscow's most significant military deployment outside the former Soviet sphere since the Cold War and proved a decisive turning point in the war. Russian air power, combined with Iranian-backed ground forces and Hezbollah fighters, halted the regime's collapse and enabled it to retake key territory, including Aleppo in late 2016. The campaign drew criticism over civilian casualties and the bombing of hospitals and rescue workers. Russia's intervention secured Assad's survival, entrenched Moscow as a central power broker in the Middle East and reshaped the geopolitics of the region for years.
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Also relevant
Further reading
The wider story
A History of the Modern Middle East
The go-to survey of the region from the late Ottoman era to the present.
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