A research firm believes that Russian Federation is bulking up their military presence in Syria, according to CNN. Russian Federation has supported President Bashar al-Assad for the entirety of the war.

Russian Federation recently has ferried weapons, troops and supplies to an airport near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in what the USA sees as preparations for setting up an air base there.

Kerry said he had told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that Russian military support for Assad “could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows, and risk confrontation with the counter-ISIL coalition operating in Syria“.

Russian Federation has sent more than a dozen attack planes to Syria amid devastating civil war going on across the country since 2011.

For the past several months, there have been reports that the USA is increasingly coming on board with Russian calls for a “unity government” made up of the current Syrian government and secular rebels to fight against ISIS.

Russian Federation has also started to fly unmanned aircraft over Syria in what appear to be surveillance operations, two US officials told CNN. But the United States and allies have been launching air strikes against positions held by the Islamist militant group in Syria, and in neighbouring Iraq.

“This corresponds to what President Putin has repeatedly said“, he said.

He said Carter would welcome a “constructive” Russian role against ISIS, but it would have to be coordinated. But with shifting enemies and alliances, the Syrian conflict is anything but straightforward.

Meanwhile Bloomberg cited officials in Moscow as saying that if the US does not agree to coordinate with Russian Federation, the Assad regime and Iran – Assad’s main ally – against ISIS, then Russian Federation was ready to act alone.

“Russia’s recent military escalation in Syria is a further reminder that when the USA does not take the initiative, others will fill the vacuum, often in ways that are harmful to our interest”, Petraeus said before the Senate Armed Services Committee.