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'First Russia casualties' killed fighting alongside government forces in Syria
Why does Russia support Syria's Bashar al-Assad?
By Roland Oliphant, Moscow
8:14PM BST 20 Oct 2015
Three Russians were killed when shelling hit their positions near Latakia, according to pro-Syrian government military sources
Three Russians fighting alongside government forces have been killed in Syria, it was reported on Tuesday, in what would be the first Russian casualties since Moscow’s intervention in the war there began three weeks ago.
Pro-Syrian government military sources said three Russians were killed when shelling hit their positions near Latakia on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said.
Rami Abdulrahman, who heads the British-based observatory, said about 20 Russians were stationed at a position near Nabi Younis where the three were killed.
He said he believed that the casualties were volunteers fighting alongside Syrian forces, rather than regular Russian servicemen.
Syrian opponents stage a missile attack against Hemeimeem military airport which is currently used by Russian military in Lattakia
Syrian opponents stage a missile attack against Hemeimeem military airport which is currently used by Russian military in Lattakia Getty Images/Anadolu Agency
The Russian ministry of defence did not respond to requests to comment on Tuesday night. The Russian embassy in Damascus said it had no knowledge of the reported deaths.
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Ruslan Leviev, a blogger who tracks Russian military activity in Ukraine and Syria, said his sources were unable to confirm the reports as of Tuesday evening.
The deaths, if confirmed, are the first Russian casualties since Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, ordered Russian aircraft into action over Syria three weeks ago.
Mr Putin has publicly ruled out committing Russian ground troops in Syria, and the Kremlin has said no steps are being taken to deploy volunteer forces.
Observers have speculated that the Kremlin may seek to bolster Assad’s army, which after four years of war is low on manpower, with deniable “volunteers” similar to those that fought in east Ukraine on the side of pro-Russian separatists.
A photograph posted on Twitter purporting to be of the victims showed half a dozen men in camouflage posing with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
The United States and Russia on Tuesday signed a memorandum for boosting safety between their air forces in missions over Syria, Russian news agencies quoted a deputy defence minister, Anatoly Antonov, as saying.
"The memorandum contains a number of rules and restrictions aimed at preventing incidents between American and Russian plans," Mr Antonov said, according to Ria-Novosti.
Peter Cook, Pentagon press secretary, said the document was signed earlier in the day and took immediate effect.
"There's a series of protocols in place that effectively are intended to avoid any sort of risk of a mid-air incident between our air crews and Russian air crews," Cook said.
"If they follow these protocols, we should not have the risk of engagement with Russian air crews over Syria."
The news of casualties comes as Syrian forces backed by Russian air power and Iranian troops and fighters from Hizbollah pressed on with offensives on several fronts, including near Aleppo and Damascus.
There were also battles between pro-regime forces and rebels, including Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, north-east of Latakia, the heartland of the minority Alawite community that is the bedrock of the regime.
A rebel advance on Latakia is believed to have been one of the triggers for Russian intervention. The Russian naval base in Syria is on the coast in the town of Tartous, south of Latakia, and the region is considered vital to both the regime and its backers.
Russian aircraft hit 60 targets belonging to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and Jabhat al-Nusra, in the latest round of air strikes, the ministry said in its daily briefing on Tuesday.
The Latakia-based force has conducted roughly 750 air strikes since the campaign began 20 days ago, Maj Gen Igor Konashenko, a ministry spokesman, said.
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