Can Russia Afford a Second Front in Today’s Conditions?
Former CIA Director David Petraeus expressed in an interview with Welt newspaper that Russia currently lacks the capacity to open a second front in its military campaigns due to internal weaknesses and resource limitations.
According to him, although Moscow maintains military support in Syria, this does not mean it can simultaneously conduct large-scale hostilities in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Petraeus emphasized that previously, Russian Air Force and support from Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were sufficient to sustain Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but now Russia faces serious constraints.
In 2024, Russia and its allies — Hezbollah — no longer appear capable of holding Assad’s regime, which has intensified resistance movements.
As a result, Assad was forced to flee to Moscow, where he received political asylum, along with his family acquiring real estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Experts believe that Russia is not capable of sustaining a full-scale second front, which only exacerbates internal and external challenges, especially within the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.