Russian warplanes are continuing to conduct airstrikes in Syria, Russian military officials said Friday, making clear that the Kremlin intends to maintain muscular support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad despite an announced military drawdown earlier this week.
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With his usual excellence in crafting geopolitical chess game, president Putin by removing Russian troops and aircraft from Syria, in effect, put pressure on Assad to make a peace deal in Geneva. We have seen a small handful of Russian aircraft depart, 8 to 10, somewhere around there.
After night fell, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that the offensive advanced toward Palmyra and that scores of Islamic State fighters were killed or wounded in Syrian artillery fire near the town.
Following large investments to reform Russia’s military and on the heels of a hybrid intervention in Ukraine, Russia brandished its new military muscle in Syria, the country’s first intervention outside the borders of the former Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War.
Russian Federation doesn’t care whether Mr Assad stays in power personally in Syria, although they would clearly like to see a friendly government in Damascus that continues the long-standing alliance with Moscow.
Salem Al Meslet of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee says Syrian President Bashar Assad’s negotiators are not serious about the indirect talks and refused to negotiate with the opposition.
Col.-Gen. Viktor Bondarev said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Thursday that the Air Force aims to meet President Vladimir Putin’s deadline and pull out in the next two to three days.
A seemingly intractable divide over Assad’s fate is just one of the dauting hurdles facing the talks, which were pushed for Assad-ally Russian Federation and the United States, which backs the HNC.
Speaking on the sidelines of a defence ministry briefing on the Syria ceasefire on Friday, spokesman Igor Konashenkov called reports that Russian Federation had mounted a ground operation in Syria “total stupidity”.
Palmyra and its countryside are witnessing fierce military operations waged by the Syrian army forces with the support of the Russian and Iranian troops.
There has been little movement of Russian ground forces, Ryder said, adding that Moscow has kept combat helicopters and some transport planes in Syria.
Praising Assad for “his restraint, honest desire for peace and for his readiness for compromise and dialogue”, Putin said the Russian demarche had sent a positive signal for all sides taking part in peace talks in Geneva.
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. “I hope that this pearl of world civilisation, or at least what’s left of it after bandits have held sway there, will be returned to the Syrian people and the entire world”, Putin said, referring to the World Heritage Site.
The US military, which was taken by surprise by the development, has remained skeptical of Putin’s intentions.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives here in Moscow next week, another showcase to underscore that the West needs Putin’s influence to try to find a solution in Syria, which is exactly the position Vladimir Putin wants to be seen in.
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Peskov emphasized that Russian Federation has consistently pushed for the Kurds to be represented in Syria peace talks, adding that consensus is essential for determining Syria’s fate.
