BEIRUT, Sept 13 : Russia is building an airstrip in the Syrian regime's stronghold Latakia province, and has brought hundreds of technicians and military advisers to the site, a monitor said on Sunday.
The claim comes as Washington accuses Moscow of a military build-up in Syria, where Russia has backed President Bashar al-Assad's regime against an uprising of more than four years.
"Russian forces are building a long runway capable of accommodating large aircraft near the Hmaymeen military airport in Latakia province," the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The monitor, which relies on a network of civilian, military and medical sources inside Syria, said "the Russians are preventing Syrians, whether military or civilian, from entering the area where they are building the runway".
"In recent weeks, military airplanes arrived in Hmaymeen carrying military equipment and hundreds of Russian military advisers and technicians," the group said. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said sources also reported that Russia was enlarging the Hamadiyeh airport in Tartus province, another regime stronghold that is south of Latakia.     ?AFP