In a statement posted on its Twitter account, the group said the Army of Conquest was not dedicated enough to establishing a Syria ruled by Islamic law.
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By that metric, Russian Federation has done quite well so far.
According to a survey compiled by the Institute for the Study of War, out of 64 targets attacked in air strikes by Russian Federation during the first three weeks of its campaign, a maximum of 15 were in areas held by IS.
Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad echoed these sentiments while visiting Tehran November 3, stressing the Syrian people had voted for Assad in a presidential election in 2014 and had shown there was no alternative to his leadership.
Before Putin came to Assad’s aide, Russia maintained a smaller force of 2,000 personnel in the country, which is a longtime Russian ally. They captured several towns north of Aleppo from rebels. There’s an extremist element – a very powerful extremist element – in the Syrian opposition that wasn’t there before that now must be dealt with.
The deeper challenges lie with Riyadh’s implacable support for the various opposition forces and resistance to Iranian control over Syria’s revamped security and military apparatus. The Russians began operating from Tiyas only this week, the official said. “Therefore, we have quite a pragmatic task at this meeting”.
In late October it was first to report the first confirmed death of a Russian soldier in Syria.
The Taliban and IS would be well-matched as opponents. “In other areas, they gained ground”. Public executions and amputations flourished; men were required to grow beards; women had to wear the all-covering burka; girls were banned from going to school. This effort seems to have been prompted by Russia’s recent decision to become involved in the conflict militarily as well as by the adoption of the JCPOA by Iran and the P5+1.
The Iranian dimension to Syria’s civil conflict adds a further complication. “After the Russian airstrikes you had more boys thinking of signing up thinking they want to fight Russia or fight the USA”.
Still, pro-Assad forces have been claiming their share of success.
Military officials downplay the significance of the strike data, saying they represent the ebb and flow of battle and are affected by things like bad weather, which may prompt changes in targeting on a particular day. “Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps troops, as well as Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shia militia fighters, probably did not arrive on the battlefield in greater numbers until mid-October”. It appears as though the USA has opened up to the possibility of Assad remaining in power during at least a transition period, aligning more closer to the concerns of Iran and Russian Federation. He’s now serving as a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
A team of OPCW experts has been sent to Iraq to confirm the findings and is expected to obtain its own samples later this month, one diplomat said.
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Thus, Russian support has strengthened Iran’s position in Syria in the short term, but if Iran does not take advantage of the situation that strength could wane over the long term, as Russia support softens. Russian Federation has presented the U.S.an opportunity to get out of Syria where it has next to no geopolitical interests, and focus more on the turmoil in Iraq.
