Special to WorldTribune.com

Russia and Iran are coordinating the dispatch of military forces to Syria in an effort to save the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) have sent hundreds of soldiers to Syria and Iran also coordinated with Moscow as Russian logistics military logistics forces began arriving in the coastal region of Syria in recent days to begin setting up bases for Russian fighter jets and combat helicopters.

The Iran-Russia coordination was likely discussed during a meeting last month between Quds Force commander Qassam Suleimani and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Assad has suffered a series of crushing defeats in recent months at the hands of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), Nusra Front and other rebel groups. According to Israeli intelligence, Assad currently controls just 25 to 30 percent at most of Syria, mostly in Damascus and the Syrian coastline, where the regime’s minority Alawite support base is centered.

Mounting losses mean that the Syrian capital of Damascus is now under threat from ISIL, a source said. “I can’t see the Russian presence as changing the balance of power. It will apparently prolong the fighting. ISIL will never negotiate. Combat will continue in the coming year, along with the human tragedy in Syria.”

News from the front has not been good for Assad in recent days. Rebels, using the cover of a heavy sandstorm in the last few days, launched a new offensive and seized the key northwestern city of Idlib, including an air force base.

Iran terror proxy Hizbullah is said to be struggling to make gains in Zabadani, in southwest Syria, according to the source who added that the entire Alawite heartland of Latakia and the port city of Tartous, where Russia has naval interests, is under threat as well.

“The Russian interest is to save the regime,” the source said.

In southern Syria, the regime controls only Quneitra, while rebels have taken all other areas. The past months also saw the collapse of the Syrian army’s Division 52 in the Syrian Golan region.

Quneitra is also said to be under rebel threat.

  Coordinated Iran-Russian military forces arriving to save Syria’s Assad, IRGC, ISIL, Qassam Suleimani, Vladimir Putin, WorldTribune.com