[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Greysard]

Needless to say, if these Russian troops come ashore in Syria, it will make any intervention by the West a bit more difficult

Most importantly, the troops can land in Syria in what, 30 seconds after being given the order?

Of course they aren't likely to make any difference in fighting. Syrian army is much better suited for that, since Syrians at least know who is who in the urban combat. It is much easier for Russia to send 100 tons of arms and ammo than one soldier. But as a token they will do just fine, and it costs nothing to have them on the ship.

[PIF]

Relax. They are just there to protect the 50 Pantsyr-1 batteries manned by other Russian expert radar technicians, as well as the protecting the Russian manned tracking radar complexes near the Golan and along the coast ... mostly totally harmless ...

[sergeantdave]

What is Defense Tech?

What are its credentials?

Why is Slate, MSNBC and Salon praising Defense Tech?

[Tommyjo]

The conspiracy crowd are reading far too much into this. The vessel in question is the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet tanker Iman. I have been tracking this vessel since it left Sevastopol and headed for the Mediterranean. It sends Morse Code weather and sea state reports every six hours. If the vessel had such a mission to put troops into Syria then why would it be transmitting positional information every six hours? Even the Amur Class Repair ship PM-56 that was previously in Tartus, Syria had marines on board to protect it.

The following is the Morse Code weather transmission from the tanker Iman from 12 GMT today.

12464 Khz

RCV DE RMGB QSA ? QTC K @1204Z

RMGB 193 19 21 1600 193 BT SML FOR RJH45 RJE73 BT

21121 99349 10358 41998 03502 10190 40200 53001 70200 80000 22200 00190 20000 88000 80000 21015 BT AR

RMGB K

From the second and third groups 99349 10358

This breaks to

34.9N 35.8E (Tartus, Syria)

From the 11th group the vessel is indicating 00 which means hove to / at anchor / stopped.

It has been transmitting its position and weather data ever since it left the Black Sea.

RCV = Call sign of Head quarters Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol

RMGB = Call sign of tanker Iman

Image of tanker Iman

[Little Ray]

Who cares?
I’m hoping Assad wins, but only after wiping out most of Syria. I hope he gets plenty of help.

[Tommyjo]

Russian Navy Tanker Iman has over the last couple of days moved from Tartus, Syria and is now located off Eastern Cyprus according to the Morse Code weather transmissions. It has been hove to off the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.