The Russian military has used the time while Moscow and Washington hammered out a ceasefire in Syria in recent weeks to take key territory that could dramatically increasing Russia's influence in the country, according to U.S. officials.
The
moves could allow Russia to control a large section of Syria's western
border with Turkey, raising critical questions about how reliable allies
the groups inside Syria that the U.S. is supporting remain, the
officials said.
"The Russians have used
the last three weeks to press their position," a U.S. official said.
This maneuvering is now leading to "general suspicion about Russia in
the short term" and questions inside the administration about whether
Moscow will fully back the ceasefire agreement.
A
significant public indication of the concern came in a statement from
the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond before Parliament.
"What
we have seen over the last weeks is very disturbing evidence of
coordination between Syrian Kurdish forces, the Syrian regime and the
Russian air force, which are making us distinctly uneasy about the
Kurds' role in all of this," said Hammond.
U.S.
officials said they are watching closely for signs the Russians are not
only joining forces with Afrin Kurds in the west, but other Kurdish
groups in eastern Syria that the U.S. supports for their fight against
ISIS.
For now, that support is expected to continue as long as the Kurds fight ISIS.
U.S.
intelligence indicates the Afrin Kurds are working with the Russians to
attack moderate opposition groups that the U.S. is supporting, two
additional U.S. officials told CNN.
As
those Kurds push eastward, other Kurdish group are pushing west. The
result is they are all close to being able to control the border in the
coming weeks, officials said. While that could keep ISIS from coming
into Syria from Turkey, it also cuts off a route from Aleppo for
civilians currently under siege who might still be trying to escape
north.
All of this has raised the question at the White House of what happens if the ceasefire fails due to lack of Russian support.
The
U.S. won't cut support for Kurds fighting ISIS or give up on trying to
get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of office. But there could be
additional sanctions against Russia, as well as an effort to make more
information public about Russia's bombing of civilians.
Officials
said one of the reasons a "Plan B" idea is already being discussed
inside the administration is skepticism among the Pentagon leadership,
including Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
Gen. Joseph Dunford, that the Russians will quickly and fully comply.
Evidence
of that, officials said, is the recent solidification of Russian
military positions and influence in key towns like Qamishli along the
eastern border with Turkey and other town southwest of Raqqa.
In
the face of Russian maneuvering, U.S. officials are concerned other
countries could be developing their own military options for helping
moderate opposition groups.
In
particular, officials said they are deeply opposed to the possibility of
Persian Gulf allies such as Saudi Arabia putting man-portable
anti-aircraft missiles into the hands of the opposition because it will
not only escalate hostilities, but those weapons could find their way
across the border into Turkey, posing a threat to European aviation.
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