On Tuesday, Rudaw reported that Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, had commented on the global Syrian security conference by saying that Iran would not be swayed to permit Assad’s ouster and would continue to fight for the preservation of its ally.
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Morek’s capture was a blow to the Russian-backed campaign in the west and northwest of the country, where it has had limited success in retaking territory gained by rebels early this year.
“We don’t deny that the airstrikes are effective, but [troops] will not advance on the ground”, Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, commander of the 1,300-strong rebel Fursan al-Haq Brigade, said in the Turkish border city of Reyhanli.
The TOW rockets have been instrumental, he and other commanders said.
Steinmeier further welcomed the involvement of Iran and Saudi Arabia in the diplomatic efforts to end the violence that has reportedly claimed over 250,000 lives in Syria since 2011, calling for negotiations with the representatives of the Syrian government. The United States says this calls for Mr Al Assad to step down, while Russian Federation says it does not. The territory is now the heartland for the rebels, a mix of moderate nationalist factions and others with hard-line Islamic ideologies. And when Putin eventually accepts that reality, he will be forced to adopt the USA position and ease Assad out of power. “They come to the rescue of each other on their different turf”. In the absence of any kind of negotiation to get us to a new government, there is no real force so far that has been able to fight the Islamic State very well.
“The political track and political settlement is the final objective of all the actions of Russian Federation”, Peskov said. In Idlib people took to the streets in Ma’arat al-Nu’man and Kafranbel where Free Army fighters joined the regular Friday protests held by civilians.
That happened last month when Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Assad to Moscow soon after Russian forces intervened in Syria to support him.
Syrian officials say fighting is still ongoing outside of the town, but the reports are that dozens of casualties were inflicted on the military forces guarding the town in a sudden offensive.
The White House announced on October 30 that up to 50 special-ops U.S. soldiers would “train, advise and assist” Syrian militias fighting Islamic State (IS) militants. In fact, the Syrian deputy foreign minister, who was just visiting Moscow, said to the press four days ago that the Syrian government would not negotiate.
Russian ground staff members load a Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jet with weapons at the Hmeymim air base near Latakia, Syria, in this handout photograph released by Russia’s Defence Ministry October 22, 2015. And that you have no choice but to take that risk because your government is trying to kill you.
“Regime forces lost control of the last remaining towns it had seized since the beginning of its ground operations in the northern parts of Hama province”, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
A second rebel commander also said the town had been captured.
Russian warplanes have been striking nearly daily around Kweiras, a base of Assad’s military in Aleppo province that IS fighters have been besieging for months. Top commanders from both Hezbollah and the Iranian contingent have been killed, a sign of the intensity of the battles. The nearby town of Morek fell to rebels on Thursday.
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However, Russia’s main regional partners – Iran and Hizbollah – are committed to Mr Al Assad personally and politically. Xenophobia is an old and commonly held characteristic of people in the Middle East, particularly those whose religious scruples lead them to view Russians and Americans as infidel invaders occupying holy lands and deserving of expulsion at all cost (including double crossing and suicide bombing). We should act as we should always act, only in the interests of the Syrian people, and the refugees caught up in this awful conflict.
