Russia intensifies naval exercises off Syrian coast - sources

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has stepped up naval training exercises off the Syrian coast in recent months and is preparing to hold more drills, according to several sources, behaviour likely to fuel U.S. assertions that Moscow is building up its forces in the region.

A squadron of five Russian naval ships, equipped with guided missiles, has set off to conduct manoeuvres in Syrian territorial waters, including possibly firing rockets, a source close to the Russian navy told Reuters on Friday.

"They will train to repulse an attack from the air and to defend the coast, which means firing artillery and testing short-range air defence systems, " the source said, adding that the exercise had been agreed with the Syrian government.

News of the drill coincided with calls from Russia for Washington to restart direct military-to-military cooperation to avert "unintended incidents" near Syria.

Sources in the United States, Israel and Lebanon have said that Russian soldiers have joined combat operations on Syrian soil or were preparing to do so. Russia has denied that, saying its military cooperation with Damascus is long-standing and based on long-term contracts for the supply of arms.

The Russian navy has stepped up its activity near Syria in recent months however, holding more exercises in the Mediterranean since May than during the whole of 2014, according to the Russian defence ministry.

"We have been seeing a lot of Russian activity in the area this year," a Cypriot source, who monitors naval and aerial activity, told Reuters on Friday.

Russia on Sept. 3 gave notice of several rounds of navy drills with rocket firing tests in the sea near the Syrian city of Tartous, where it has a naval facility, and near Latakia, from Sept. 8 to Oct. 7, according to the Cypriot aviation authorities and international governmental databases of notices for airmen (NOTAM).

That, it said, meant that three flight paths would have to be briefly closed.

Russia's defence ministry said the navy held drills in the Mediterranean in May, June and August. The guided missile cruiser Moskva, five warships and three supply ships from Russia's Black Sea Fleet had taken part in the most recent drill, it said.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday Russian navy exercises in Mediterranean were routine.

"It's a well-known fact. They are being held in full accordance with international law," he told reporters.

A spokesman for Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based in Crimea, refused to comment on any ongoing exercises near Syria.

(Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Athens, George Psylides in Nicosia, Tim Hepher in Paris, Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Andrew Osborn)