Russia to Send Ground Troops to Fight in Syria

Russia will deploy ground troops to Syria, further escalating its involvement in the conflict that has seen it launch airstrikes from a Syrian air base.

The troops on the ground in Syria will be "volunteers," which makes their presence seem like it will be similar to Russian troops that have been found in Ukraine after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, according to The New York Times.

It is unclear how many soldiers Russia will deploy in Syria, and it is believed there are already around 600 Russian personnel on the ground, excluding the crews used to fuel and arm the fighter jets and helicopter gunships at the airbase in the heartland of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's base of power.

Russian forces have launched a number of airstrikes against rebels fighting in Syria, and Russia maintains that it has been targeting the Islamic State, but the United States and others have claimed that Russia is targeting other rebel groups that pose a more direct threat to the Assad regime.

These rebels are backed by countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, straining Russia's relationship with these nations.

Russia's relationship with Turkey is now particularly strained after the Turkish government accused Russian jets of violating its airspace. Turkey is said to have scrambled fighter jets in response and warned Russia that any other violation would be met with force.

As a member of NATO, which states that all its members must come to the aid of any member that is attacked, the prospect of such an incident means the situation could get out of hand with relative ease.