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US, Russia getting closer to direct confrontation in Syria: Analyst

Tuesday, 27 December 2016 2:23 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 27 December 2016 2:23 PM ]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) and US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) leave after their bilateral meeting at the APEC Ministers Summit in Lima, Peru on November 17, 2016. (AFP photo)

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced that a US plan to ease limitations on the delivery of weapons to militants in Syria would endanger the safety of Russian aircraft and servicemen operating in the Arab country. On December 8, the White House said US President Barack Obama had relaxed the so-called Arms Export Control Act for the militants “supporting US Special Forces” in Syria.

Christopher Walker, a political analyst from London, told Press TV’s Top 5 that the United States’ decision to supply more arms and ammunition to the foreign-backed militants in Syria is complicating the situation on the ground, which may set off the tinderbox in the conflict.

“Superpowers are suddenly becoming, as it were, nose to nose,” and it is a “serious development in the clash in Syria that [already] ... looked [as if] it was over,” Walker said on Tuesday.

The overt supply of arms to militants wreaking havoc in Syria is considered as a “way of operating on the ground” in the country, the analyst stated.

“The Russians have made very clear [that] they don’t want to see Americans getting involved at this stage” in Syria, he noted.

The United States is taking the step to show the international public opinion that the Americans are not going to accept their failure in the Syrian conflict, he argued.

“It is an extraordinary time ... when most observers saw that recent developments in Aleppo had basically given a victory to the Syrian government of President [Bashar] al-Assad,” but it seems that the US is not prepared to accept the reality, Walker added.

Criticizing US policies in Syria, he asserted, “We are only literally less than two weeks almost away from inauguration of a new president; so, President Obama is very much a lame duck and it’s quite unusual for lame ducks to take such controversial steps so close to them handing over [power].”

Russia has been lending air support to Syria’s counterterrorism operations since last September. Moscow operates two airbases in the war-torn Arab country.

Since March 2011, Syria has been gripped by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies.

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