So the new aid that is coming forth from Russian Federation, from Iran and the continuing aid and the continuing aid also from Hezbollah but combined with the Syrian determination not to give in, four and a half years, under the most hard circumstances, they have been resisting, and both militarily resisting and also resting in ways of defending the cohesion of the country, the determination to keep Syria together as a multi-national, multi-religious, multi-ethnic state that very much goes hand in hand with the military victory because in war, morale counts for as they say 90 percent.
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The photo and video evidence brought by the activists in Syria flies in the face of Russia’s claim that its troops are not actively involved in the battle.
The UN’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, wants to launch a political process between the Syrian government and “a united delegation of opposition groups” on the basis of the June 2012 Geneva agreement, which calls for the formation of a transitional government in Damascus.
He added: “Regarding presidential elections there will be no talk about it. The president has a term and when it ends then we can talk about it”.
“We are not against elections, we are democrats, but it can not be that we are forced to accept a president, who is a criminal, who destroyed the country – what logic is behind this idea”, Kilo said.
Russian Federation and Iran have been Assad’s top allies during Syria’s almost five-year war.
Konashenkov reported that over the past two days Russian airplanes have conducted 85 combat sorties and attacked 277 targets in Syria.
Around 20 countries and worldwide bodies will meet in the Austrian capital Vienna on Saturday to try to push forward a peace plan that would include a ceasefire between Bashar al-Assad’s regime and a few opposition groups, and talks to find a political solution.
The second round on Saturday again excludes the Syrians, and it is not clear yet if the Russian proposal has been coordinated with the Syrian government.
Under the Russian proposal, a list of non-ISIL terrorist groups would be created and on Tuesday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said “there is a need to agree on a list of terrorist organisations, so that no one has doubts, hesitations about the affiliation of one or another armed group”, according to the state-owned Sputnik news agency.
But that is easier said than done.
Mr Shehadeh said parliamentary elections are an internal Syrian affair, adding that it is still too early to hold them.
Allies of the Syrian government recognized the legitimacy of the election, and the fighting worsened.
For starters, Russian Federation appeared ambivalent toward Assad as recently as last week. The stated aim was hitting at Islamic State extremists, but the airstrikes have improved the position of Assad’s forces, who have gone on the offensive in a few areas.
Meanwhile on the battlefields of Syria, government forces broke a year-long Islamic State siege of the Kweyris air base in northern Aleppo Province.
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It only mentions that “the president of Syria will not chair the constitutional commission”, but rather the reform process will be led by “a candidate agreed by all sides”.
