Evidence continues to mount suggesting Russian ground troops are active in Syria
Howitzers MSTA-B, tanks T-90A, armored personnel carrier BTR-82A - photos of these weapons were posted on the Citeam.org website, which suggests that all these weapons were transferred from the Russian airbase, Hmeymim, to the east of Syria, as reported by Deutsche Welle.
Citeam.org is a website belonging to the "team involved in the investigation of military conflicts in Ukraine and Syria." The team, founded in May 2015, is known under the English name the Conflict Intelligence Team. One of its founders is the blogger, who goes under the pseudonym, Ruslan Leviev. Other members of the group remain anonymous. In less than a year, the Conflict Intelligence Team has published a considerable amount of information about the war in Ukraine and Syria. According to the participants of the team, most of their investigations are an analysis of information from public sources. Their last publication was posted last week under the heading, "Russian equipment transferred from the Hmeymim air base to the east of Syria."
What is Assad's involvement?
Howitzers, MSTA-B, and artillery tractors, KAMAZ-63501AT, according to the article, can be seen in the report of the American news channel, CNN, from the positions of Bashar al-Assad's forces in eastern Syria. Earlier, the authors of the article say these howitzers and tractors were noticed in the village Shilfatiya in Latakia province, in the province of Hama, in the Palmyra region and in the north of the province Latakia and also in the airbase Hmeymim itself.
According to the Conflict Intelligence Team, every time these weapons were discovered outside the Hmeymim they were accompanied or used by the Russian military. The Team says that they were unable to detect any cases when these howitzers and tractors were used by government troops or other foreign allies of Assad.
Was a group of Russian military transferred to the front in eastern Syria?
Camouflage coloration of Russian tanks T-90A, according to the Conflict Intelligence, are the same color as the tanks which were previously based in the Russian airbase, Hmeymim, in Syria.
Armored personnel carrier BTR-82A, cross-country vehicle Ural-4320 – the appearance in the same location of several types of Russian military vehicles, according to the publication, suggests that a group of Russian military, that probably consists of artillery, accompanied by tanks and, possibly, the Marine Corps, was transferred to the front in eastern Syria. However, according to the Conflict Intelligence Team, there is no concrete evidence because the quality of the CNN video is too low to clearly determine the military affiliation by their uniform.
"While the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation warns other countries from conducting ground operations in Syria, we receive more and more data about the Russian military ground forces providing support for the troops of Assad, against the Syrian opposition, and against the Islamic State,” the Conflict Intelligence Team emphasized.
The team also added that Russian officials must explain "for what purpose Russian artillery and other military, in addition to military advisers, are located in the Syrian province of Latakia, Raqqah and Homs, which tasks they perform, to what risks they are exposed there, and what will be their fate in the event of Turkish or Saudi ground operation. This is necessary to prevent a recurrence of the Ukrainian events, when dozens, if not hundreds, of Russian soldiers died in an undeclared war."