60 minutes rewind
the civil war in syria was a powder keg when the russians intervened in september
they put up an air base and started bombing targets there russian president vladimir
putin said the airstrikes were aimed at fighting islamic terrorism but it quickly became apparent
that the majority of the bombs were aimed not at isis but at other syrian insurgent groups
fighting the regime of russia's ally president bashar al-assad whatever their motives the
russians have inserted themselves into the syrian conflict and any discussion of how it might end
a few months ago 60 minutes reported from the american base in qatar the command center for
u.s operations in the middle east we wanted to see the russian base so we
asked and they agreed we set out on the road to syria which took us on a detour we didn't expect
to get to the russian air base in latakia syria you have to start here in moscow you don't just
show up at the gates of the air base you have to be invited by the russian ministry of defense
then taken on a russian military transport on a circuitous five-hour flight over territory
friendly to russia the caspian sea iran iraq before finally landing in syria
it was almost midnight when our plane took off from a russian air base outside moscow
as we started to take pictures out the window we were told
yet no something we heard often during the next three days what is this
this was the first face we saw after landing that's syrian president bashar al-assad
this once was a syrian airport since the summer the russians have built barracks brought in
4 000 personnel paved roads rolled in truckloads of equipment and munitions
erecting a bit of russia in the heart of assad controlled syria this is mostly friendly territory
at least 20 miles from the closest front lines but the russians aren't taking any chances
helicopter gunships constantly patrolled the perimeter they took us out along newly
extended runways to watch a steady series of planes taking off the roar was deafening
the russians invited about a dozen news organizations on this tour of the latakia air base
they especially wanted us to take note of their newest fighter bomber the su-34
our russian guide in syria major general igor konoshenkov
is chief spokesman for the ministry of defense
over the previous 24 hours he said 320 insurgents and 34 armored vehicles were destroyed
independent monitoring groups told us some of the planes we saw taking off
did bomb isis targets but most bombed more immediate threats to the assad
regime groups like the u.s backed free syrian army and al-nusra the syrian army of al-qaeda
general konoshenkov wouldn't tell us how many planes are flying missions
but american military sources say the russians have 36 fighter planes and 17
helicopters the russian military says they have flown more than 5 000 sorties mostly from here
since president putin ordered the bombing campaign in september
what is the primary goal of russia in this intervention wellness western the main task is to
restore statehood in this region syrian statehood admiral vladimir komalerov is the chairman of the
russian parliament's defense committee he was involved in the planning of the syrian mission
the united states is focused primarily on defeating isis and russia seems to have
other priorities supporting the assad regime and helping the assad regime fight its enemies and
that seems to take priority over fighting isis we use robotics if you cut off the head you get
chaos there's chaos in libya chaos essentially in iraq half the country is under isil and the
head was chopped off there you see so if you want to so stubbornly remove the leaders of syria it's
an enormous mistake i'm just wondering if uh you believe that assad has a role in the future syria
the problem is that he has lost some of his authority the people themselves must figure out
in elections whom to follow and how to build their lives which have been essentially ruined in syria
ruined in large part by president assad's own military we got the sense admiral komayedov is
not crazy about the syrian president who has dropped bombs on his own people the admiral
used a derogatory term to describe assad then ask that we not repeat it on tv
we know why the opposition was formed it was formed due to the mistakes of the president of
syria himself when they launched this mission back in september the russians said it would
be temporary after months of almost daily bombing isis and the other insurgent groups
fighting the assad regime have barely been budged from the territory they hold
and russia has added more planes and expanded to other bases here in syria
the mission doesn't look so temporary anymore did russia overestimate the power of the syrian army
but we have been fulfilling our obligations to syria and we will go on fulfilling them
president assad shouldn't rest on his laurels he needs to work on his army and raise its morale
and if necessary lead the army himself he needs to unite his forces which are scattered like fingers
they must be clenched into a fist if you can't beat them at least you can give them a black eye
it was the russians who got a black eye when one of their warplanes was
shot down and a pilot killed by the turkish air force in late november
that incident may have been why we were taken to tartus two hours south of latakia
this is the russian navy's only foothold in the mediterranean holding onto this base seems to
be one key reason president putin maintained and now is escalating his support for bashar al-assad
this day our destination was the moscow a guided missile cruiser that lay a mile offshore
they brought us aboard and did everything short of
firing off one of its missiles to demonstrate russia's naval might
the moscow is normally the flagship of the black sea fleet it now has a new mission when i see all
of this i just wonder who are you fighting isis doesn't have any capability like this
general konoshenkov told us the ship's main mission is not to fight terrorists after
turkey shot down the russian fighter the moscow was reassigned to provide anti-aircraft defense
that a russian guided missile cruiser is providing air defense against turkey a u.s ally
in what was supposed to be a war against isis and islamic terrorism is a sign just how complicated
this temporary mission has become russia has to be reckoned with which has been putin's goal all
along throughout the 15 years of his leadership maria lippmann is a political analyst in moscow
one of the few independent voices willing to publicly criticize president putin seeing russia
awaiting this state-of-the-art military operation in a very important region made the russians feel
proud this began with the annexation of crimea when russia reinstated historical justice the
way it was seen in russia so this is primarily not about syria but about russia's place in the world
of course it is also about syria but i do not think the goal of the primary goal was to stop the
war i think the primary goal was russia's stature in the world the story will continue after this
we wanted to know what they thought of russia's war here
in latakia a coastal province home to about 2 million people this is assad territory
the shops looked full and life seemed normal as we rode through town
we weren't allowed off the bus for security reasons our russian minder said
instead they took us to a refugee camp at the city sports complex while hundreds of thousands
of syrians have fled to europe from the bombs and brutality of president assad and his opponents
the russians wanted to show us people who had fled to the safety of the syrian government these
are about 5 000 of the millions of refugees from this civil war amid the tents we found this woman
she's been here three years after fleeing aleppo with her daughter and grandchildren
what was happening in aleppo that made you come here to this camp and how do one of
you they destroyed our homes she told us she said her son was killed you lost everything
she told us she didn't know who was responsible for the barrel bomb dropped from a plane that
destroyed her house but barrel bombs are a signature weapon of the assad regime do you hope
to go home again god willing she said she told us she felt safe here in the government-run camp
and she was grateful to the russians for helping out for those on the receiving
end of the russian bombs it's a different story the russians have presented this war
through a series of videos of precision strikes with intelligence from satellites and drones
yet as we were shown the planes being heavily armed for their missions we saw many of what
are known as dumb bombs being loaded unguided weapons which human rights groups say have led
to more than 500 civilian deaths correct me if i'm wrong i have read that many of the targets hit by
the russians have been selected by the syrians is that true we use our data and syrian data
but i think there's a trick in your question that supposedly if we're striking we're hitting
the wrong target yes there may be mistakes but you have to know that such things happen
muslims we know how many times the americans have missed you now
war is not like going for a stroll somewhere in the park war is death it's weaponry it's fire
we saw little of that during our trip to syria by design the russians showed off their firepower
but not the results and the results have not been dramatic according to the defense and
intelligence publication ihs james after three months of russian bombing the syrian army has
managed to take back less than one percent of the territory seized by the insurgents