Russian Federation could rebuild its military presence in Syria in a matter of hours and will maintain powerful air defenses in the country for the foreseeable future, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, offering a chest-beating assessment of a deployment that rescued Syrian President Bashar Assad from near defeat.
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Indeed, that Col. Ryder, the Centcom spokesman, admitted the U.S. hadn’t seen a single Russian airstrike in Syria in the past week actually undercuts Pentagon claims Wednesday that they hadn’t seen any reduction in Russian military assets in Syria.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recalled some of Russia’s warplanes from Syria earlier this week, said Moscow will keep enough forces there to continue the fight against the Islamic State group, the Nusra Front and other extremist organizations.
Russian jets are flying some 25 bombing raids daily to back up a Syrian government offensive to recapture the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, the armed forces said Friday, March 18.
Mr Putin, whose intervention in support of Mr Assad turned the tide in Syria’s civil war, ordered the partial pullout after more than five months of air strikes. But Russian helicopters, armour, long-range rocket batteries and most of the estimated 5,000 Russian personnel appear to have remained in Syria, said the official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive matter.
But Putin insisted the costly operation had been a price worth paying to bolster President Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s influence in the region. But he made clear Russian Federation could easily scale up its forces once more.
Syria’s government must do more to present its ideas about a political transition and not merely talk about principles of peacemaking, United Nations mediator Staffan de Mistura said on Friday after a fifth day of peace talks.
De Mistura also said he gave both sides homework for the weekend and that when talks continue Monday, he will strive to reach a “minimum” platform between the government and opposition teams.
He said the action in Syria cost the military about 33 billion rubles (about $480 million), adding that the Defense Ministry already had those funds earmarked for maneuvers and used them instead to finance the Syrian campaign.
The first Russian aircraft returned Tuesday to a hero’s welcome.
The HNC is prepared to hold talks with Russian officials about Syria, al-Muslet said.
A website linked to IS, Aamaq, carried a similar claim, adding that one of the Russians killed was a military advisor. Russian Federation has declared its support for federalism in Syria and has pushed for the inclusion in the Geneva talks of Kurdish parties and of members of nonviolent or tolerated opposition parties, like Jamil’s.
The US military, which was taken by surprise by the development, has remained sceptical of Putin’s intentions.
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Breedlove and other US leaders have been highly critical of the Russian campaign, which the West has said was focused mainly on attacking elements opposed to Assad, rather than the Islamic State group being targeted by the USA and other countries.
