Putin Orders Start of Withdrawal From Syria Beginning Tuesday
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Moscow will begin withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria.
On Monday, President Putin indicated that the Kremlin will start withdrawing its main forces in Syria, saying that the military has largely achieved its objectives.
“I think that the task that was assigned to the Ministry of Defense and the armed forces as a whole has achieved its goal, and so I order the defense minister to start tomorrow withdrawing the main part of our military factions from the Syrian Arab Republic,” President Putin said during a meeting with the Russian Defense and Foreign Ministries, according to RIA Novosti.
“With the participation of the Russian military…the Syrian armed forces and patriotic Syrian forces have been able to achieve a fundamental turnaround in the fight against international terrorism and have taken the initiative in almost all respects,” the Russian president said.
“There has been a significant turning point in the fight against terrorism,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
Putin expressed hope that this decision will encourage all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to pursue a peaceful resolution.
“I ask the ministry of foreign affairs to intensify the participation of the Russian Federation in the organization of the peace process towards a solution to the Syrian crisis,” Putin said.
Moscow will, however, maintain a military presence in Syria, and a deadline for complete withdrawal has not yet been announced. Putin also indicated that Russian forces will remain at the port of Tartus and Hmeymim airbase in Latakia.
Source.
[Ariadna: Has Putin Accepted the Partition of Syria and Removal of Assad as Inevitable? Or is he making an undecipherable chess move?]
As world leaders meet in Geneva for a new round of Syrian peace talks, Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear speaks with political analyst Hafsa Kara-Mustapha to discuss the possibility that Syria could be split into three separate mini states.
“I think this is going to attempt, at the very least, to usher in a new leadership,” Kara-Mustapha tells Loud & Clear host Brian Becker, referring to Syrian peace talks taking place in Geneva on Monday. “The whole point behind it is actually to render the [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad leadership null and void.
“On this occasion, [the Syrian opposition] seem[s] to be quite willing to participate. But of course the willingness is because the international community seems to be heading toward removing or sidelining Bashar al-Assad,” she adds. “This goes hand-in-hand with the federalization project, which is to leave him encircled in a very, very restricted part of Syria and then carve up the rest of the country amongst all the other parties.”
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Russian Troops Start Withdrawal from Syria
Bytuteditor
Mar 14, 2016
Personally, I would rather they increase their presence
Several more Russian military bases ought to help – had Gaddafi allowed the Russians bases he would still be here.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/naval-bases-planned-for-libya-syria/373642.html
Wonder how different it would have been for Yemen and Libya had Russian forces been present? Perhaps another reason why Muammar had to go.
No, Mike, Russia wasn’t ready to engage then. Gaddafi was doomed from the moment he agreed to give up his WMDs.
Careful with Moscow Times–it’s a Jewish propaganda rag, which is why they publish cartoons like this:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/upload/iblock/644/5659-02-pautina_pu.jpg
ISIS should be pulling out- not Russia.
Syria was doomed when it pulled its troops out of Lebanon in 2005. That was really the end.
Iran also leaving we hear, and Iran stepping up Turkey trade.
I do not understand all these moves. Putin is not a stupid person. He perfectly knows that these Hyenas are ready to go back and attack. As some say. The Russians should increase their presence instead of retreating. You don’t deal with the devil because he will get you. Assad shouldn’t retreat from Lebanon, Saddam Husein should never make deals with the “West”, the same with Maomar Qdaffy etc,,,, this is all crazy.
I am with you, Isaac. I cannot fathom it either, especially the timing of the announcement, barely a few hours after the ‘peace talks” started, which — conventional wisdom says — can only embolden the “moderates” making demands on Assad at the conference.
I just have to hope and pray that Putin is making such an incredibly convoluted game that not only we but the adversary doesn’t “see it coming” either.
Conversely, we have to remember that Putin is all for Russia. Syria comes a distant, what 4th? 5th? It is conceivable that they gave him a deal he thought was great: “Withdraw your troops but you can keep your maritime base and we also drop the sanctions. We’ll let Assad stay but only with a chunk of Syria, we split the rest”… Any deal with the US is a losing deal and one made with liars and cheats but Putin should know that by now.
Yeah this is a tough to understand. I have questioned most of Putin’s major tactical moves and I admit he was right. You are right Russia is Putin’s primary concern, but I can’t see how Syria and Iran’s problems are separate from Russia’s. The Greater Israel project has to be stopped here. It seems Armenia is accommodating Russian military buildup, they share a huge common border with Turkey and they have no love at all for Turkey. Genocide come to mind? Russia has dismantled the NATO story and Turkey’s credibility and has made us distance ourselves from them. So Russia can o right to the cause of ISIS locally and stop them in Turkey.
Interestingly, Ariadnetheo, I looked at that cartoon and perhaps, in my honest ignorance, missed what offended you. I agree about the Moscow Times which is why I don’t refer to it often. But what I saw in this images is Putin slyly wrapping up the Rothschilds….. please tell me, what am I missing here? I have looked at it for ages and don’t understand what you are seeing. And honestly, it is driving me NUTS! LOL.
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A: Come, on, Noor. Just because something offends me and doesn’t bother you is no reason to be driven nuts… 🙂 What offends me is to see Putin depicted as a spider that weaves almost invisible webs away to entrap and then eat little bugs, while in fact it is the Rothschilds who are the spiders. That’s all.
Putin can be said to play his cards close to his chest but not to deceive and hide for the purpose of catching prey. I suppose some hasbarist would cite Crimea but it would be a falsehood, as we know: they had a plebiscite there. Does that answer your question?
I guess putin must have realized US/NATO will be backing any turkish/saudi invasion of Syria and decided to stay out of it, Russia does not want a nuclear war with the west.