Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad in Moscow on Monday, for the first time since 2018, to discuss the situation in rebel-held areas in Syria, including the fragile truce reached between the government and rebels in Daraa earlier this month. Putin also condemned the presence of American and Turkish troops in the country.
Putin said he respects Assad’s initiative “to establish a dialogue” with the rebels and his opponents, referring to the recent truce between Assad’s regime and the insurgents. “I really hope that this process continues. It is only by consolidating all the forces in Syria that the country can rebound and generate positive momentum in its development,” Putin noted.
However, Putin stressed that “there are still some pockets of resistance where the terrorists not only control part of the territory but also continue to terrorise peaceful civilians.” He added that despite the resistance, refugees are “actively returning to liberated areas [and] working hard to rebuild their houses and resume a peaceful life.”
💬 President #Putin to President Bashar al-Assad:
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) September 14, 2021
By working together 🇷🇺🤝🇸🇾 we have liberated most of the territory of the Syrian Republic, dealing terrorists a heavy, damaging blow.
The Syrian government now controls 90% of the country’s territory https://t.co/siivmiWWb7 pic.twitter.com/Kt7w4fhNuW
“I believe that the main problem lies in the presence in some parts of the country of foreign armed forces without any mandate from the United Nations or your [Syrian government] permission,” Putin said, taking a swipe at American and Turkish troops in Syria. The presence of foreign forces “runs counter to international law” and acts as a roadblock to Syrian “efforts to consolidate the country and promote recovery,” he opined.
Putin was referring to the hundreds of American troops stationed in eastern Syria and working with Kurdish militias to eliminate the presence of Islamic State fighters. Turkey has sent its troops to northern Syria to fight the Kurdish PKK militants.
Furthermore, the Russian President praised Damascus and Moscow’s cooperation in bringing peace to the war-torn country. “By working together, we have liberated most of the territory of the Syrian Republic, dealing the terrorists a heavy, damaging blow. The Syrian government now controls 90 per cent of the country’s territory,” Putin said.
Additionally, Putin discussed the prospects of improving trade and economic ties between the two countries and said that joint efforts are crucial in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. He mentioned that the first batches of Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines have been delivered to Syria and stressed that Russia will continue to work with the Syrian people in “the battle against the coronavirus infection.”
For his part, Assad said Syria “attained positive results in the fight against international terrorism” with Russia’s help. “Since international terrorism knows no borders and is spreading around the world like a virus, I can testify that our two armies have made a huge contribution to the protection of humankind from this evil,” the Syrian dictator said.
Also Read: 19 Dead as Fighting Escalates Between Rebels and Government Forces in Syria’s Daraa
Moreover, he highlighted that the political process in Syria has been in a “state of stagnation” for the past three years and blamed certain countries for “undermining” it. “Some countries have imposed sanctions on the Syrian people, and these measures are clearly inhumane, directed against the state, and are illegitimate,” Assad said. Since 2011, the United States has imposed sanctions on Bashar Al-Assad and several Syrian officials for their role in exacerbating the conflict and committing grave human rights violations.
Earlier this month, Syrian regime forces and the rebels in the Syrian city of Daraa reached a Russian-brokered ceasefire to stop the fighting after weeks of intense clashes between both sides. The truce allows, for the first time, Syrian army presence in Daraa and Russian and for Syrian flags to be raised in the city.
Russia entered the Syrian civil war in 2015 when the rebels had almost defeated the Syrian military. Since then, Russia has launched thousands of airstrikes in rebel strongholds and deployed troops to Syria, turning the tide in favour of the Assad regime. However, the airstrikes have taken a substantial humanitarian toll on the country, killing more than 18,000 people, of which almost 8,000 were civilians.
The brutal conflict in Syria has killed close to 400,000 people, forced more than five million to flee as refugees, and displaced another six million within the nation’s borders. The United Nations (UN) estimates suggest that today, more than 13 million people require humanitarian assistance in Syria, along with 90% of all children in the country. Although Assad has managed to cling to power since the war began in 2011, prospects for lasting peace in the country remain dim, with no progress in peace talks or UN-led efforts to draft a new constitution.