(MintPress)—Speculation about what is actually happening on the ground in Syria is intensifying as the government of President Bashar al-Assad continues to flex its military and political muscle.
On Tuesday, Damascus angrily rejected reports that Moscow had sent Russian troops to support the regime against the Syrian opposition, calling them baseless and untrue. Russia’s defence ministry supported Assad’s assertion, saying that a tanker had been sent from the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Ukraine to the Syrian port of Tartus to support Russian ships patrolling the Gulf of Aden in search of pirates.
“There are no warships of the Russian navy on the coast of Syria,” it stated.
The rumors began after opposition sources told Arabic language TV station Al Arabiyah on Monday that Russian special forces had arrived in Tartus. Russia’s navy had also acknowledged to the Interfax news agency that a tanker had anchored there with “an anti-terror group” on board.
Moscow and Damascus are longtime allies; Russia has sold billions of dollars worth of weapons to Syria, and Tartus is its only naval base outside the former Soviet Union.
Shift in Kremlin stance
In fact, in what appears to be a slight change in direction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia would support a new United Nations Security Council statement backing UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s peace mission to Syria.
Moscow, along with Beijing, has twice rejected UN resolutions condemning Damascus for the brutal year long crackdown on protesters.
Assad has repeatedly denied official responsibility for the violence, instead blaming foreign-backed militants. In a letter to the Security Council, according to the state-run SANA news agency, Syria’s Foreign Ministry said “regional and international sides” were backing “terrorists”in the country with money and weapons.”
Lavrov said the Kremlin would give the go ahead to diplomatic action only if it does not involve delivering an ultimatum to Assad, who has resisted calls to step down, but instead sets the stage for negotiations between Syria’s government and the opposition. Annan has already met twice with Assad, and Lavrov also called for his recommendations to be made public.
In addition, the foreign minister supported a plan for daily ceasefires in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid operations, and promised Moscow would put pressure on the government to adhere to it. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is seeking a two hour halt to hostilities every day to allow access to food and medicine for those caught up in the conflict.
Rights group condemns regime opponents
In the meantime, the New-York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in an open letter to the Syrian opposition on Tuesday that armed rebels have themselves committed “serious human rights abuses.”
The group has previously documented “widespread violations” by Syrian security forces, including disappearances, torture, arbitrary detentions and “indiscriminate” shelling of neighborhoods.
“The Syrian government’s brutal tactics cannot justify abuses by armed opposition groups,” said HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson. “Opposition leaders should make it clear to their followers that they must not torture, kidnap, or execute under any circumstances.”
The letter seems to bolster fears in some corners that the opposition is not only highly disorganized but may also be comprised of destabilizing sectarian groups, including radical Salafi Islamists backed by Saudi Arabia.
That, in fact, is one of the major concerns that Russia, with its own restive Muslim minority, continues to have about a potential power vacuum in the event that Assad’s regime falls.
“I think Russia will stick to their position for the near term, especially if the Syrian regime relatively succeeds and scores a couple of victories,” said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.