俄罗斯将向叙利亚部署2000名军事人员

Russia is to deploy 2,000 military personnel to its new air base near the Syrian port city of Latakia, signalling the scale of Moscow’s involvement in the war-torn country.

卫星图片显示一架俄罗斯运输机在叙利亚拉塔基亚空军基地降落

The deployment “forms the first phase of the mission there”, according to an adviser on Syria policy in Moscow.

俄罗斯将向其在叙利亚拉塔基亚港附近的新的空军基地部署2000名军事人员，这表明俄罗斯正深入介入到这个战火纷飞的国家。

The force will include fighter aircraft crews, engineers and troops to secure the facility, said another person briefed on the matter.

一位驻莫斯科的叙利亚政策顾问称，此次部署是“此次行动的第一阶段”。

The pair declined to confirm whether Moscow had sent surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets, as alleged by Washington at the weekend.

据另一名简要介绍此事的人士称，这次部署将包括战斗机组成人员、工程师以及保护这个军事基地的军队。

But Russian and western military experts said surface-to-air missiles were an integral part of the defences of any air base.

两人都拒绝证实俄罗斯是否已向叙利亚派遣地对空导弹和战斗机，美国上周末声称俄罗斯已这么做了。

The comments are unlikely to allay fears in the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), that Russia’s military involvement in Syria could escalate the country’s bloody civil war or risk incidents between Russian and other forces active in the country.

但俄罗斯和西方军事专家表示，地对空导弹是任何一个空军基地防御的不可或缺的一部分。

A Russian official on Monday dismissed as “disingenuous” comments by John Kerry, US secretary of state, that the presence of Russian air-to-air combat capacity and surface-to-air missiles in Syria “raises serious questions”, since the capabilities are of little military use against jihadi groups such as Isis, which is Moscow’s stated reason for its increased intervention in the Syrian conflict.

一名俄罗斯官员周一称美国国务卿约翰克里(John Kerry)的言论是“不诚实”的。克里表示，俄罗斯空对空作战能力以及地对空导弹在叙利亚的出现将“引发严重问题”，这些军事能力对于对Isis等圣战组织予以军事打击并没有很大用处。而俄罗斯表示，该国扩大对叙利亚冲突的干预的原因正是Isis。

Three western defence officials agreed that the Russian deployment tallied with the numbers needed to establish a forward air base similar to those built by western militaries in Afghanistan.

3名西方国防官员认为，俄罗斯此次部署符合建立前方作战空军基地所需的人数，这种基地与西方军队在阿富汗建立的基地类似。

Fears that Russia’s ramped up military presence could further complicate the balance of forces in Syria prompted Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Moscow for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

俄罗斯扩大军事影响力的举措可能会进一步令叙利亚的力量平衡复杂化，这种担忧促使以色列总理本雅明蔠呑尼亚胡(Benjamin Netanyahu)赶赴莫斯科，与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔渠京(Vladimir Putin)于周一进行会谈。

In a sign of the risks this could entail, Moscow on Monday accused Syrian rebel forces of shelling its embassy in Damascus and demanded that their western and regional allies take steps to rein them in.

俄罗斯周一批评叙利亚叛军炮击俄罗斯驻大马士革大使馆，并要求西方和地区盟友采取措施制止他们，这一迹象表明俄罗斯增兵可能会带来危险。