Fight for Syria's Aleppo exposes limits of Russian air power - Polidicks

[quote]Russia's politically-sensitive and ultimately fruitless decision to launch bombing missions on Syria from Iranian soil has exposed the limits to its air power, leaving Moscow in need of a new strategy to advance its aims. People familiar with Russia's military said Moscow opted for the sorties from Iran - and Tehran agreed to allow them - because they were struggling to achieve their aim of crushing rebels in the city of Aleppo. The gamble failed and rebels fighting their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Aasad, remain ensconced in parts of Aleppo. ... That chimed in with other evidence that Russia and its allies were ramping up their efforts to take control of Aleppo over the last two months. The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, which is allied to Iran, said on June 24 that the movement would send more fighters to the Aleppo area. The battle for the city was of strategic importance, he said. Since then, residents and opposition activists have reported an increase in the intensity of raids on Aleppo, including the high-altitude operations which distinguish Russian bombing from that by low-flying Syrian aircraft. That was matched on the ground by an offensive from Syrian government forces which left rebel-held areas besieged. Aid organizations reported a jump in civilian casualties and warned of a humanitarian disaster because of a shortage of supplies. ... During the intensified bombing, the rebel forces in Aleppo even counter-attacked in the middle of this month, breaking the siege and restoring access to supply routes. According to defense experts, Russia does have the military capacity to intensify its bombing in Syria further, whether or not it has access to the Iranian base. But that would mean more expense for Russia, which is struggling to fill gaps in its budget, faces a parliamentary election next month, and has seen the Syrian operation drag on far past the Kremlin's original timetable. [/quote] [URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-russia-idUSKCN1141VN"]Source[/URL].

This is rather an opinion piece than news (there are no sources at article, only nameless/anonymous informators), and quite a biased one too. It ignores the fact that "fruitless" decision to use Iranian base was rather succesful at testing of how fast can russian airforces deploy on foreign bases close to active goals, something that was done with a wink at turkey due to all recent events.

Gee, it's almost like just bombing with planes won't win battles or wars. Pretty clickbaity title for what just amounts to my previous sentence.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;50968778]Gee, it's almost like just bombing with planes won't win battles or wars. Pretty clickbaity title for what just amounts to my previous sentence.[/QUOTE] How's it clickbaity? Article quite clearly talks about Russian airstrikes limitations and expenses, while not showing much of results as Assad's regime forces are unable to keep a siege on Eastern Aleppo city and Syrian rebels keep holding ground and even still doing advances.

well Russians had always issues with theirs air-air refuel ops (reliability/cost) so more air-bases on ground are must I wonder if Chinese get the base in Iran too , cause I bet they want some test runs too

[QUOTE=karimatrix;50968743]This is rather an opinion piece than news (there are no sources at article, only nameless/anonymous informators), and quite a biased one too. It ignores the fact that "fruitless" decision to use Iranian base was rather succesful at testing of how fast can russian airforces deploy on foreign bases close to active goals, something that was done with a wink at turkey due to all recent events.[/QUOTE] Keep in mind CroGamer is extremely anti-russian, moreso than the usual people here.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;50968778]Gee, it's almost like just bombing with planes won't win battles or wars. Pretty clickbaity title for what just amounts to my previous sentence.[/QUOTE] The fact that the Russian bombing campaign has pretty much failed is absolutely newsworthy. Whether the reason it failed was that it was doomed from the beginning or that not enough resources are being committed, etc. is another matter entirely.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;50968778]Gee, it's almost like just bombing with planes won't win battles or wars. Pretty clickbaity title for what just amounts to my previous sentence.[/QUOTE] We could have told you that, we're very well experienced with bombing the ever-living fucking shit out of an area, only to encounter heavy resistance when we arrive. Looking at Japan and Vietnam.

Don't forget that I doubt Russia wants to spend too much resources on the fight in Syria when they are also busy dickwaving at Ukraine.

-snip-

[QUOTE=phaedon;50969189]The fact that the Russian bombing campaign has pretty much failed is absolutely newsworthy. Whether the reason it failed was that it was doomed from the beginning or that not enough resources are being committed, etc. is another matter entirely.[/QUOTE] It's not really that the bombing campaign failed, it's that the people the bombing is supporting are useless. The Syrian military is unable to hold siege on a city when they're getting help from one of the worlds major powers. They're fighting a dozen different barely coordinated militia groups and terrorist groups and can barely hold their ground. It's not really that Russia failed, it's more that Syria failed.

Isn't the Syrian army demoralized and ineffective compared to shiite militias and the SDF

[QUOTE=Conscript;50970153]Isn't the Syrian army demoralized and ineffective compared to shiite militias and the SDF[/QUOTE] Basically yea. They've been fighting a losing war against their own people for years and most of the free world is against them.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;50969845]We could have told you that, we're very well experienced with bombing the ever-living fucking shit out of an area, only to encounter heavy resistance when we arrive. Looking at Japan and Vietnam.[/QUOTE] Not really a good analogy with Japan because we absolutely crushed them militarily, spiritually, and economically with our bombing runs. Okinawa is the exception because it's an island made out of coral and mountains.

[QUOTE=karimatrix;50968743]This is rather an opinion piece than news (there are no sources at article, only nameless/anonymous informators), and quite a biased one too. It ignores the fact that "fruitless" decision to use Iranian base was rather succesful at testing of how fast can russian airforces deploy on foreign bases close to active goals, something that was done with a wink at turkey due to all recent events.[/QUOTE] still, the russian airforce is using mostly dumb munitions because theyre cheap and plentiful but not effective at tactical bombing like the US has done in other parts of syria

[QUOTE=Sableye;50970504]still, the russian airforce is using mostly dumb munitions because theyre cheap and plentiful but not effective at tactical bombing like the US has done in other parts of syria[/QUOTE] They are probably just using the chance to get rid of old tech and empty the warehouses.