In August 2015, the government of the Russian Federation embarked its
military forces on an intervention in Syria. Ever since, there has been
no end of discussion about Russian military capabilities and
intentions - in Syria and beyond. To many, the performance of the
Russian military - and especially the Russian Air-Space Force (VKS) - in
this war was a clear demonstration of advanced technology, improved
training, fearsome firepower, and great mobility. To others, the
military operation only experienced limited success and exposed a number
of weaknesses. Prominent amongst the latter were aircraft ill-suited to
the necessities of expeditionary warfare, and a gross lack of advanced
weaponry and equipment.
While the military component of their intervention can only be described
as having provided clear evidence that the Russian military was in no
condition to directly challenge NATO's eastern frontiers, it cannot be
denied that through this action Moscow effected a turning point in the
Syrian Civil War, and indeed one on geostrategic level. Organized and
conducted in cooperation with very diverse allies - ranging from the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran (IRGC), Hezbollah of Lebanon,
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and a myriad of local warlords and
their armed militias - through the combination of intentional
bombardment of insurgent-controlled parts of Syria, and indirect
protection for the IRGC's own military intervention in the country from
a possible counter-intervention of the West, the Russians succeeded in
saving the regime of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Moscow's Game of Poker provides a unique overview and analysis of
Moscow's political aims, strategy, doctrine, target selection process,
military technology and tactics, day-by-day operations, and the way the
Russian Federation cooperated with local allies. This story is told in
combination with exclusive insight into the similar campaign run by what
was left of the Syrian Arab Air Force.
This revised edition of Moscow's Game of Poker now includes over 130
full color photographs, maps and specially commissioned color artworks
of vehicles, aircraft and combatants.
