Russian Anti-Terror Troops Arrive in Syria

PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in Moscow, Jan. 25, 2005.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in Moscow, Jan. 25, 2005. (Sergei Zhukov/AFP/Getty Images)

By KIRIT RADIA (@KiritRadia_ABC) and RYM MOMTAZ

MOSCOW, Russia, March 19, 2012

A Russian military unit has arrived in Syria, according to Russian news reports, a development that a United Nations Security Council source told ABC News was "a bomb" certain to have serious repercussions.

Russia, one of President Bashar al-Assad's strongest allies despite international condemnation of the government's violent crackdown on the country's uprising, has repeatedly blocked the United Nations Security Council's attempts to halt the violence, accusing the U.S. and its allies of trying to start another war.

Now the Russian Black Sea fleet's Iman tanker has arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean Sea with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard according to the Interfax news agency. The Assad government has insisted it is fighting a terrorist insurgency. The Russian news reports did not elaborate on the Russian troops' mission in Syria or if they are expected to leave the port.

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