The military conflict in Syria between the Assad regime’s forces on the one had, and ISIS terrorists battling against the regime, and a US trained contingent of the Free-Syria army on the other fighting separately from the ISIS jihadists, is entering a new dangerous phase with a more active involvement of Russia on Syrian soil, according to analysis from think tank Stratfor and informed sources from Israeli site Ynet.com.

Western diplomatic sources told Ynet that a Russian expeditionary force arrived in Syria and set up camp in an Assad controlled airbase. The base, which is an area surrounding Damascus, will serve as a Russian forward operating base, while Ynet says thousands of Russian military personnel-including military advisers, instructors, logistics and technical military staff- are expected to be deployed to Syria in the upcoming weeks. The Israeli site also has information that an aerial protection division, as well as pilots will also arrive to fly an unknown number of Russian fighter aircraft and attack helicopters.

Stratfor claims that although the Russian support of Bashar al Assad with weaponry and logistics is indisputable, it cannot confirm the scale of involvement suggested by the Israeli site. The ‘think tank’ argues that Moscow is ‘torn’ when it comes to throwing its full support behind the Assad regime, as Russia is trying to be seen as a credible mediator and promote a diplomatic solution to the military conflict, yet the Kremlin also wants to bolster the Syrian government forces against ISIS.

With the recent launch of a joint US-Turkish air-strike campaign against ISIS positions in the Syrian territory from Turkish air-bases, and the clear warning by the US that any aggression against its trained group of fighters will result in immediate retaliation, the situation in the Syrian conflict is becoming more complicated and extremely volatile. The question of whether the reported increased presence of Russian forces in Syria could lead to an inadvertent clash between Russian and US-backed groups can only raise concerns of a possible escalation of the confrontation in the embattled region.