The Middle East

Russian foreign policy and geopolitics in the Post-Soviet space and the Middle East: Tajikistan, Georgia, Ukraine and Syria

“…Not only was this Russia's first post-Soviet military intervention outside the former USSR, but its relative success in shoring up the Assad regime stood in stark contrast to the results that the United States and its allies achieved through military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. 64 As the rationales behind the interventions were different, it is not easy to agree with the authors that Russian intervention in Syria has been more successful compared with Western intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, it can be regarded as more successful compared with the Western intervention in Libya where Western intervention has brought about an almost failed state.…”

“…The intervention stabilized Damascus's position in the civil war, and led to the recapture of previously lost territory. 67 The Russian interventionin fact, the Russian air support to the Syrian government's army and Iranian, Afghanistani (mainly Hazara) and Iraqi voluntary troops under the command of Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds forcewas instrumental in defeating ISIL and other extremist militias and the Syrian government's recapture of major cities such as Aleppo. Although the efforts by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were also instrumental in defeating these militias, it is not certain what the outcome would have been without the Russian intervention as Turkey has an uneasy relationship with these forces of which a major component is the Syrian Kurdish Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (YPG) (People's Protection Units) party, which Turkey regards as a branch of the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê (PKK, Kurdistan Workers' Party) in Syria.…”