Special to WorldTribune.com

Russian warplanes are using an Iranian air base to launch attacks on anit-Assad regime rebels in Syria, according to a report.

“The Iranian armed forces appear to be allowing Russian aircraft to use their military airfields in support of combat operations over Syria,” said a report by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) titled “The Russo-Iranian Military Coalition In Syria May Be Deepening.”

The report said Moscow, in its drive to prop up the Bashar Assad regime in Syria, has become “more dependent” on Iran that Western analysts had previously thought.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “requires a clear and reliable air corridor from Russia to Syria,” the report said. “That corridor must transit Iranian airspace, given the rising tensions between Russia and Turkey. This fact increases Russia’s dependence on Iran and suggests that there will be limits to the degree to which Putin can afford to antagonize Iran’s leaders in pursuit of his own policies and interests in Syria.”

“Iranian fighters have been escorting Russian bombers as they transit Iranian airspace for some time,” the AEI report said.

“Military aviation specialist Babak Taghvaei reports (as cited by The Aviationist) that Russian Tu-95MS Bear, Tu-160 Blackjack, and Tu-22M Backfire bombers have flown a southwesterly path through Iranian airspace since late November on their way to missions against rebel and Islamic State forces in Syria, flying southwest of Teheran, passing Esfahan and Ahvaz, and crossing over the Iraqi border north of Basra.

“Satellite imagery recently obtained and analyzed by AllSource Analysis now shows that advanced Russian combat aircraft have used Iranian Air Force bases to stage on the way to or from bombing runs in Syria at least once.”

The report said a Russian Su-34 “Fullback” fighter jet and Il-76 “Candid” transport aircraft were spotted on the main parking apron of Shahid Nojeh Air Base in the northwestern Iranian province of Hamedan on Nov. 24.

“The timing of the aircraft sightings suggest that the Su-34 may have developed mechanical trouble, landed at Shahid Nojeh Air Base, waited for the Il-76 to arrive with maintenance equipment and/or personnel, and promptly left,” the report said.

  American Enterprise Institute, Report: Russia using Iran air bases for waging war in Syria, Vladimir Putin, WorldTribune.com