A day before the Russian foreign minister arrives in Washington, Moscow has sent dozens of new artillery howitzers to Syria to be used by the Assad regime in a future ground campaign against rebel forces, U.S. officials told Fox News on Tuesday.
The additional military weaponry comes days after a new ceasefire effort began in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is set to sit down with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, on Wednesday, Fox News reported.
Some 21 M-30 Russian artillery pieces arrived via cargo ship in the southern port city of Tartus in the past few days, according to two U.S. defense officials.
”This is not done by people who want to turn down the volume,” one official said.
Russia also recently sent a new A-50 airborne early warning or AWACS plane to its large airbase in Syria, according to new photos from ImageSat International. In addition, Russian missiles heading to Syria are expected to arrive later this week.
