Two weeks ago much of the world’s attention was focused squarely on Syria and it’s president, Bashar al-Assad. Pictures went viral demonstrating the aftermath of a brutal chemical weapons attack that Syria conducted on its own citizens. This was the first time that many became aware that not only does ISIS (ISIL, Daesh) have a strong presence in Syria, but that they are also in the midst of a six year long civil war. The U.S. military then responded by launching a limited attack against the Syrian air force base where the attack was launched. This attack helped to highlight that Russia also has a presence in Syria, supporting the Assad regime. Which brings us to the question, why is Russia supporting a leader that is so brutal?

There are several reasons why Russia supports Syria, many of which we will discuss. Some of the first alliances between Russia and Syria began in the 1970’s with Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad. Hafez entered into a strategic military alliance with the then Soviet Union, and had his own military officers trained and educated in Russia. As part of this new strategic alliance, the Soviet Union was able to set up oil and gas companies within Syria, some of which still exist today.

At this time the Soviet Union was in the midst of the Cold War, and they wanted to have a sphere of influence over as many Middle Eastern countries (and countries altogether) as they could. The U.S. had an incredibly strong ally and presence in the Middle East in Israel. The USSR saw forming an alliance with Israel’s next door neighbor as a good way to counter the U.S.’s presence in Israel. Russia also had very good partnerships with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. Once those two regimes were toppled, Syria was the only country within the Middle East with which Russia had a strong relationship. In 2015 they decided to intervene in Syria’s bloody civil war, to ensure Bashar al-Assad stayed in power and to protect their interests.

As part of this decades old relationship, Russia has set up military bases within Syria. The most important is their naval base at Tartus. It is their only base that is located on the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore it is vital that they maintain access to the Mediterranean Sea through this base. They also have a powerful air force base called Khmeimim Base (Syria has moved almost all of their aircraft near this base after the U.S. attack on one of their air force bases). So Russia supports the regime so that they can still have their military bases within the Middle East.

Along with military bases, Russia sells Syria their weaponry and tests their own weapons. As described earlier with Russia’s support of Hussein and Gaddafi, they sold Iraq and Libya billions of dollars worth of weapons. They have also sold Syria billions of dollars of weapons. Along with selling weapons, the Syrian Civil War has allowed Russia to test out over 160 new weapons. They see this war as being a type of showroom to demonstrate weapons, some of which are completely unnecessary in this conflict. As a result, Russia has had record arms sales of around $60 billion a year, and is now second behind the United States in arms sales worldwide. The Syrian Civil War has most certainly made Russia billions of dollars in new revenue streams.

The new revenue is good for Russia, as they are in a lot of economic trouble currently. Their economy is shrinking faster than almost every country in the entire world. Often as strange as it seems, war is a good distraction and a way to make money. Russia also goes a long way in censoring the media at home, and framing the war in such a way that they are helping Syria. This is a good morale boost for folks back in their country. They communicate to their citizens that they are fighting ISIS and terrorists, even though they are using the label the Syrian regime uses as their own rebellious people being terrorists.

Finally, Russia does actually want to fight ISIS and Islamic extremists. Chechnya is a republic of Russia that is predominantly Muslim. They have also been fighting for independence from Russia for a number of years. In fact, many of ISIS’s top commanders are Chechen or have Chechen backgrounds. If you will remember the United States has even been attacked by Chechen extremists as the Boston Marathon bombers were both from Chechnya. An ISIS victory in Syria would not be ideal for Russia. ISIS could shift it’s focus and resources to helping those currently fighting in that republic. Russia has experienced a number of terrorists attacks in recent years, including the downing of one of their passenger jets. They are committed to fighting the spread of global terrorism to protect their interests at home.

Russian support for Syria is nothing new, as the two countries have formed alliances for years. Although the support has been revved up in recent years as conflicts in Syria have spread throughout the country. Russia will continue to have a presence in Syria for the coming years to protect their strategic, military, energy, and financial interests that they have in the region.

Sources:
Chance, Matthew, “What does Russia want in Syria”, CNN.com
Dobrokhutov, Roman, “The Chemical Brothers: Putin and Assad”, Al-Jazeera
Rahman-Jones, Imran, “Why does Russia support Syria and Assad”, BBC.com
Mirovalev, Mansar, “Syria’s War: A Showroom for Russian arms sales”, Al-Jazeera
Bender, Jeremy, “The world in terms of Russian and U.S. arms exports”, Businessinsider.com
Sinjab, Lina, “Syria Conflict: The close ties behind Russia’s intervention”, BBC.com
Browne, Ryan, “Syria moves planes to Russian base for protection”, CNN.com

Image via: Breitbart