![\"A](\"http:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2015\/09\/15\/world\/middleeast\/15Flights-web\/15Flights-web-superJumbo.jpg\")
<\/a>A Russian plane in Latakia, Syria, on Saturday. The Syrian government said it was carrying humanitarian aid. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n
American officials disclosed Sunday that at least seven giant Russian Condor transport planes had taken off from a base in southern Russia during the past week to ferry equipment to Syria, all passing through Iranian and Iraqi airspace.<\/span><\/p>\n Their destination was an airfield south of Latakia, Syria, which could become the most significant new Russian military foothold in the Middle East in decades, American officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n The Obama administration initially hoped it had hampered the Russian effort to move military equipment and personnel into Syria when Bulgaria, a NATO member, announced it would close its airspace to the flights. But Russia quickly began channeling its flights over Iraq and Iran, which Russia\u2019s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said on Sunday would continue despite American objections.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere were military supplies, they are ongoing, and they will continue,\u201d Mr. Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. \u201cThey are inevitably accompanied by Russian specialists, who help to adjust the equipment, to train Syrian personnel how to use this weaponry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Moscow\u2019s military buildup in Syria, where the Kremlin has been supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a four-and-a-half-year civil war, adds a new friction point in its relations with the United States. The actions also lay bare another major policy challenge for the United States: how to encourage Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq, who came to power with the blessing of the United States but is still trying to establish his authority, to block the Russian flights.<\/span><\/p>\n American diplomats raised the issue with the Iraqi government on Sept. 5, hoping that the Iraqis would follow Bulgaria\u2019s example and declare their airspace off limits to the Russian transport planes.<\/span><\/p>\n The Iraqis responded that they would look into the matter, said an American official who declined to be identified because he was talking about diplomatic communications. But more than a week later, the Iraqis had yet to take action.<\/span><\/p>\n A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister declined to comment on Sunday, asserting that he had no information about the Russian flights or the United States\u2019 concerns about them.<\/span><\/p>\n Two years ago, American officials confronted Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, Mr. Abadi\u2019s predecessor, when Iraq allowed Iran to fly arms, ammunition and other equipment to Syria through its airspace<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. In March 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Baghdad that he had a \u201cspirited\u201d discussion with Mr. Maliki on the issue<\/a><\/strong><\/span> but with no breakthrough.<\/span><\/p>\n Compounding Mr. Abadi\u2019s challenge are his efforts to maintain good relations with the United States, Iran and Russia. While about 3,500 American advisers have been sent to help the Iraqis combat the Islamic State, Iraq also has received military support for that fight from Iran, which like Russia is backing Mr. Assad. Iraq also is buying weapons from Moscow, which Mr. Abadi visited in May.<\/span><\/p>\n With few aircraft, Iraq\u2019s ability to defend its airspace is extremely limited. But it could tell the Russians that they do not have the clearance to fly through Iraqi airspace and ask for American help in detecting and discouraging Russian flights.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSince Maliki relinquished the premiership, power and authority in Iraq have become increasingly diffused with various players now exercising unilateral power over the use of force,\u201d Ramzy Mardini, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, a research group in Washington, said in a telephone interview from Erbil, Iraq.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNeutrality is the best Washington can hope for in Baghdad,\u201d Mr. Mardini added. \u201cIraq is not a dictatorial state like many of the U.S. allies in the Middle East. Iraq is still a fragile state whose leaders are exposed to politics. In the discourse of Iraqi politics, forcing Abadi to side with the U.S. against Assad is like realigning him with the Sunni axis against the Shia one.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A Russian Embassy official in Tehran told Russian news agencies on Wednesday that Iran had approved Russia\u2019s use of Iranian airspace to fly to Syria, but the official insisted the cargo was merely humanitarian aid.<\/span><\/p>\n