According to US officials, Vladimir Putin has sent artillery and Russian tanks to an air base near Latakia, a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad located on the country's Mediterranean coast.
T-90 Tank
This comes as the UK government prepares to launch more drone attacks against Islamic State militants in Syria. Last week, David Cameron announced that "hard military force" is required to combat both ISIS and Assad's regime, and thus stem the flow of refugees from Syria.
The Russian president, a close ally of the Damascus regime, this week positioned seven powerful T-90 tanks in the country where Russian military presence and support has recently been growing. This has caused concerns in the West that Russia's presence in war-torn Syria could complicate the fight against ISIS.
"We would welcome Russian contributions to the overall global effort against (the IS group) but things that continue to support the Assad regime, particularly military things, are unhelpful and risk adding greater instability to an already unstable situation," said Pentagon spokesman captain Jeff Davis at a news briefing.
In March 2011, anti-government protests sparked a civil war in Syria, which has been further complicated by the actions of rebels and jihadists such as the Islamic State group. About 240,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have sought asylum in Europe.
T-90 Tank - Russia
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