AlMonitor: " Tehran positively reacted to the decision of the Russian government to withdraw troops from Syria"

The US publication The New York Times writes that Russia's foreign policy is more successful than the American one. Within five years the administration of the US President asserted that America can stop the military operation in Syria at any time and would not be drawn into a protracted conflict. However, it was Russia that managed to set priorities in foreign policy, leaving Washington behind.

The statement by the Russian president that most of the military forces are leaving Syria caught the White House off guard. The propaganda of recent months, which is being waged against Moscow, now finally lost every reason to be accepted by the international community. It is obvious that the Kremlin's decision was dictated by a  need to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian conflict. In addition, such a move could be an example for other countries whose troops are involved in the Syrian campaign.

In fact, the aim of Russia was reached: the radical Islamists have been irreparably damaged, and Bashar al-Assad is taking part in the peace talks as the legitimate president of Syria. The Kremlin’s short military involvement in the Syrian campaign once again emphasizes that the main task of the Russian leadership was striking at ISIS, unlike the Americans, who for nearly two years were fighting the regime of the current president of Syria. In fact, Russia's intervention helped to avoid the collapse of the Syrian state, and now the population of the SAR are able to determine their fate through legitimate elections.

The United States, which during the whole period from the beginning of the Russian operations in Syria in every way tried to discredit Russia, ended up left behind, despite the scale of the hegemonic plans of the state’s leadership. Russia promptly intervened in the conflict, it was able to correctly prioritize, defend the interests of the Syrian society and demonstrate once again that it is a strong player in the foreign policy arena.

The international analytical publication AlMonitor writes about Iran's reaction to the decision of the Russian government to withdraw troops from Syria. Iranian officials and analysts generally reacted very positively to the statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the termination of Russia's participation in the military campaign in Syria.

The Iranian leadership believes that this decision will help to overcome the crisis in the SAR along with the peaceful settlement of the conflict through negotiations by all stakeholders. Ali Akbar Velaeti, adviser on foreign policy to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said that the Kremlin's decision did not affect the cooperation between Iran, Syria and Russia.

In addition, it should be noted that Russia still has military air and naval bases in the Syrian Republic and, if necessary, will always be able to provide assistance to its allies. Iran as well as Russia believes that the solution to the conflict in Syria should be based on the diplomatic rather than the military plane, and the withdrawal of the Russian troops promotes it strongly.

Iranian and Russian cooperation on the Middle Eastern issues is ongoing and is considered by many international analysts to be a strategic alliance that promotes a settlement of the situation in the region.