U.S. report: Russia will launch attacks in Syria

WASHINGTON – A secret U.S. intelligence assessment provided to the White House predicts the Kremlin will order military strikes in Syria to help prop up President Bashar Assad’s embattled government and to stop westward advances by Islamic State and other rebel groups.

The airstrikes would be conducted by more than two dozen Russian warplanes that were surreptitiously flown to Syria over the past week.

U.S. officials said the Russian pilots turned off their planes’ transponders to avoid detection and hid by flying in close formation with Russian AN-124 Condor cargo flights, which used commercial air corridors over Iraq and Iran.

Russian-made surveillance drones began flying over embattled parts of northwest Syria this week to help identify potential targets, U.S. officials said.

The drones fly daily missions above Latakia and Hamah provinces, which are nominally held by Assad’s forces, and Idlib province, which is largely controlled by rebel factions.

Islamic State is not active in any of the areas, however, raising questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions in the multisided Syrian civil war.

President Barack Obama will sit down with Putin on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders have not held formal talks in two years, but the White House is increasingly concerned about Russia’s growing involvement in Syria.

The intelligence assessment was given to Obama as part of his briefings for the meeting, which was announced Thursday.

According to U.S. officials, 28 Russian fighter and ground attack jets were flown to a civilian airstrip in Latakia province since Sept. 18.

The strip was upgraded over the last three weeks with a new air control tower, fresh tarmac and other modifications to handle the Russian warplanes, according to U.S. officials. Cargo planes delivered 16 helicopters, artillery and tanks two weeks ago.

The air base is about 35 miles from Russia’s long-time Syrian naval base at Tartus and about 200 miles from Damascus, the capital.

“The jets are ready to strike at any moment,” said a U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the intelligence. “There is nothing stopping them from delivering airstrikes at this point.”

“The equipment we’ve seen out there is not strictly defensive,” another U.S. official said.

New satellite imagery also indicates recent construction at a weapons storage site inside the base, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank.

Aerial images showing newly installed modular housing for 2,000 troops, and nine modern T-90 tanks, indicate that Russia is using its own soldiers and equipment, and not Syrian troops, to defend the base. The Syrian army operates older Russian tanks.

Warplanes from a U.S.-led coalition have been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria since September 2014. The Obama administration remains committed to ousting Assad from power, but is not attacking government-held positions.