October 16, 2015 Issue

St. Petersburg, Russia—A woman watches Russian airstrikes in Syria on a Russia-24 news program on September 30. Two days after President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the U.N., Russia began a series of airstrikes it said targeted ISIS facilities. Russia’s parliament approved the use of force in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The initial wave of airstrikes included locations in the western city of Homs held by anti-regime rebel forces, raising suspicions that Putin’s move was more about propping up Assad than fighting terrorism. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter warned that Russia was at risk of “pouring gasoline on the fire.”