Russia Taking Advantage of US Elections to Gain in Syria, Expert Says

JERUSALEM, Israel – Could Russia be taking advantage of the U.S. presidential election to make military gains in Syria? Some military analysts are making that claim and stressing that the Moscow power grab furthers the human tragedy in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

And there's more. The situation also threatens any relationship between Russia and the U.S.

Global foreign policy experts believe perceived American weakness and lack of action in the Middle East combined with a lame duck presidency open the door for Russia to gain a powerful foothold in the region.

"They're going for absolute victory and they're trying to effectively bomb eastern Aleppo into surrender," Middle East expert Jonathan Spyer said.

"The Russians now figure, 'well it's a good time to really achieve as much as possible in the last dying months of the Obama presidency when there will almost certainly be very little push back from the Americans,'" Spyer told CBN News.

As the only major city where rebels maintain a stronghold, Aleppo faces constant attack from Syrian and Russian troops.  

"The Russians have noticed there was a vacuum in the Middle East and they're doing their level best to themselves fill that vacuum and by so doing advance Russia's strategic interests," Spyer said.

Bombing of civilian sites, including hospitals, has prompted Washington to cut off talks with Russia about a ceasefire.  

"Russia and the Syrian regime have chosen to pursue a military course inconsistent with the cessation of hostilities as demonstrated by intensified attacks against civilian areas," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau.

Russia stepped in about a year ago to help Syria's president Bashar Assad stay in power.  That put it at odds with the U.S. and Western powers.  

"That's what the Russians are doing, pouring everything they can possibly muster in order to help Assad. By contrast the American agenda in both Syria and Iraq has been extremely confused from the outset," Spyer said.

"It's a stark contrast between one country that has very clear objectives and is pursuing them with great vigor and the other country that has vague objectives and indeed is putting very little resources or effort into advancing them," he added.

The situation got worse when Russia admitted deploying the S-300 missile defense system in Syria.

"It's not quite clear why the deployment of the S-300 has so worried our Western colleagues," he said. "I'll remind you that the S-300 is exclusively a defensive system that doesn't threaten anyone."

Spyer says this action is clearly intended to deter the U.S. because rebel groups have no planes or ballistic missiles.  

"When you put an S-300 into Western Syria, what you're saying is to the Americans or anybody else, if you were thinking of putting planes up and acting against our allies, against the regime forces we're ready for that and that's going to have consequences potentially," Spyer explained. "So it's a very, very aggressive move both symbolically and practically."