Politics
22:58, 21-Jun-2017
Will Syrian tensions bring up US-Russia engagement on battlefield?
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By CGTN’s Keerqinfu
Following a US fighter jet downing a Syrian government warplane, Iran launched several mid-range missiles on the same day onto Syrian territory in retaliation for the terror attack in Tehran. Two days later, another Iranian-made drone was shot down by a US F-15 fighter. Tensions over Syria have been escalated in only three days.
CGTN’s Dialogue discussed these issues with guests including Professor James Rae from California State University in Sacramento, who believes that the shooting of the Syrian aircraft this time can be seen as a signal of a shift in US strategy on the Middle East.
“The shared interest of Iran, Russia and US had brought together a focus on Islamic State. I think this recent incident could signal that the US is looking for the next phase which is to return to its hostility to the Assad regime, to try to build up the Syrian defense forces on the Kurdish coalition partners,” Rae said.
Speaking of the likelihood of direct conflict between Russia and the US, Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said neither side would be willing to start a war and that dialogue between Russia and the US would soon be resurrected.
“No one wants really to fight each other. Neither the US nor Russia. Avoiding actual crashes is important," Felgenhauer said.
About the proxy war which is going on in Syria, Hua Liming, former Chinese ambassador to Iran, told CGTN that although Russia responded in a hard voice, the main characters are still Iran and the US.
Hua said, “There will be no war between the US and Russia. But there is real cold war between US and Iran. From one side is the global super power, from the other side is the regional power. Iran’s main target is the US instead of Saudi Arabia."