The White House and State Department said Thursday that it was monitoring reports that Russia is carrying out military operations in Syria's civil war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, with both warning that such actions would further destabilize Syria's perilous situation.
Syrian state media reported this week that Russian forces were fighting alongside Assad's army. The Times of London reported Thursday that video shot by a militia loyal to Assad and aired on SANA, Syria's state-run television station, showed troops backed by an armored vehicle. The newspaper also reported that Russian voices could clearly be heard in the film, which claimed to show government forces fighting rebels in the Latakia Mountains, near Syria's Mediterranean coast.