Today, Moscow made a decision on the withdrawal of military forces from Syria, to achieve progress in the peace settlement. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, since September 30th the aerospace forces carried out more than nine thousand flights, massive strikes of dispersed weapons at a range of more than a thousand kilometers with missiles from both air and sea bases have been carried out for the first time. During this time, as a result of the strikes, we managed to seriously stop, and in some locations completely stop the resource support of terrorists by suppressing the traffic of the hydrocarbon trade, the main routes for hydrocarbon supplies to Turkey and the main routes for weapons and ammunition supplies to militants are blocked.
Terrorists were driven out of Latakia, communication with Aleppo was restored, Palmyra was blocked – combat actions for its liberation from the illegal armed groups continue. Most of the provinces of Hama and Homs were cleared, the Kvayres air base, which has been surrounded for more than three years, was liberated, control over the oil and gas fields near Palmyra has been established: to date, there are three large fields, which began to function in everyday mode. More than two thousand bandits, natives of Russia, including 17 field commanders, were eliminated in Syria. Our aviation destroyed 209 oil production, processing and fuel transfer facilities, as well as 2912 means of petroleum products delivery, or as they are also called, 'nalivniky'. In total, with the support of our aviation, Syrian troops liberated 400 localities and more than 10,000 square kilometers of territory. A significant turning point in the fight against terrorism has been achieved. Organizations involved in this work as a result of the negotiation process – today there are forty-two such organizations – plus settlements, there are more than forty of them, which joined the ceasefire regime, have begun active steps to comply with the ceasefire regime.
According to the data of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the operation of aerospace forces contributed to the creation of conditions for the political process. Moscow advocated the establishment of an inter-Syrian dialogue in accordance with those decisions that were made back in 2012, but these proposals encountered a lack of willingness of partners to address this issue. Only since the beginning of actions of aerospace forces did the situation begin to change. The Russian-American 'duo' began to prepare a wider process of external support for the inter-Syrian negotiations.
According to Lavrov, "our base stations – marine in Tartus and airborne in Hmeymim airport – will operate as usual. They should be effectively protected from land, sea and air. This part of our military group was traditionally located in Syria for many previous years, and now it will have to fulfill a very important function of monitoring the ceasefire and the creation of conditions for the peace process."
"I hope that today's decision will be a good signal for all the conflicting parties. I hope that it will significantly raise the level of confidence of all the participants of this process on reconciliation in Syria and will contribute to solving the Syrian issue through peaceful means," the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
Meanwhile, the former Minister for Higher Education of the Syrian Arab Republic, former Ambassador of Syria to the Russian Federation, professor of Damascus State University, Doctor Hassan Rishe, believes that further settlement of the conflict will not be easy. "Syria is a secular country. The nation was always unified, but it is already an external struggle. There is Turkey, there is Qatar, there is Saudi Arabia, there is America. Of course, America wants to help Israel. Syria has very good relations with Russia, and not just today, in it's history. Even during the Soviet Union, even before that, there have always been friendly relations in the economy, public relations, culture and education. I am a graduate of Russia, and more than 30 thousand, in fact, it is an addition to military men, there were even more among military men. The West does not like our strong ties, and especially the fact that Russia has its own strategy in international politics. Russia wants an equitable world, it does not want one pole to rule the world."
At the same time, Hassan Rishe criticized the policy of other countries, aimed at the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad: "They want to interfere in Syria's internal affairs. And Bashar Assad is a patriot, a modern man, who wants to make Syria better. They do not like the fact that Syria becomes a strong country and plays a role in the region. Turkey is against Syria, wants to have influence over Syria through Islam. Anti-Syrian policy is also directed against Russia, because they want to have a belt around Russia. Fanatics, extremists, Islamists and terrorists. But the Syrian people respect Russia very much, they are grateful for the assistance provided. I hope that our president and our nation will win in the end, although it will be difficult."
