By continuing to support Assad, Russian Federation implicitly supports Iran’s interests in the Middle East. Both countries have agreed that the greatest threat to the stability of the region is the involvement of the United States and Israel, and have signed an agreement for cooperation against Western intervention.
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“We are not saying that Assad should leave or stay”, she said, BBC reported.
She also warned that regime change in Syria, now sought by a host of Western nations, could become a “regional catastrophe”, making worse the effects of a war that has forced millions of people to flee the country since 2011.
She said on EkhoMoskvy radio station that it is up to the Syrian people to decide whether Bashar al-Assad steps down from his Presidential post or remains in power. The Tasnim news agency quoted him on Monday as saying: “We don’t know any better person to replace him”.
Washington’s latest broadside against Russian intervention in Syria came as government troops, emboldened by Moscow’s support over the past month, recaptured from the Islamic State group a key road into second city Aleppo.
At the same time at the Vienna talks the White House said U.S. President Barack Obama has authorized the first sustained deployment of special forces to Syria, which marks a U-turn in the U.S.’ long-time principle of not putting USA boots on the ground.
Since then, Russia’s air campaign in Syria has included hundreds of attacks by fighter-jet and missile strikes.
Contrary to what Moscow would like the world to believe, Russian airstrikes in Syria are not only not hurting the Islamic State (ISIS) but are actually helping the jihadist group, a leading British defence analyst disclosed.
State TV said the road was now being demined and would reopen to traffic Thursday.
The Vice President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces Hisham Marwa said the coalition “will not attend a meeting called for by Moscow while its troops kill Syrian people”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the frontline with IS fighters had been pushed back about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the route.
“Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad also said Damascus had not received official notice of any meeting with members of the Syrian opposition, after a Russian official said Moscow might bring them together next week”. A senior Russian diplomat said yesterday that Syrian opposition leaders had been invited to sit down for talks with Assad’s government in Moscow.
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Instead, the measure is aimed at weakening the Islamic State by supporting an alliance of Syrian Kurds and Arabs that intends to capture territory and supply routes near the Islamic State capital of Raqqa.
