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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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21Oct15
Bashar al-Assad travels to Russia to thank Putin for Syria airstrikes
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has arrived in Moscow in his first foreign visit since an uprising against his authoritarian rule broke out in 2011.
The Kremlin made the details of the visit on Tuesday evening public on Wednesday but did not say whether the Syrian leader was still in Moscow or had returned home.
Russia launched a military intervention three weeks ago in Syria, commencing airstrikes against opposition groups that were inching closer to Assad's strongholds in the west.
The country has endured a debilitating civil war now in its fifth year that has claimed more than 250,000 lives.
According to a Kremlin transcript, Assad told the Russian president: "First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria.
"If it was not for your actions and your decisions, the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater area."
Putin hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants "almost on their own" and said the Syrian army had notched up major battlefield victories of late.
Also present at the meeting in the Kremlin were Russia's foreign and defence ministers, as well as the head of the security council and of the foreign intelligence service.
Assad's first official state visit since the revolution began hints at growing confidence in his camp that the Russian intervention may reverse or at least stall a series of military setbacks and defeats over the past nine months, with rebels seizing significant territory in the provinces of Idlib and Hama and beating back regime offensives in Aleppo and Daraa.
Islamic State seized key territory in Homs this summer, including the historic city of Palmyra.
Russian intervention has primarily targeted rebel groups, including those backed by regional and western states, with a minority of airstrikes hitting Isis. The regime has opened several fronts against the rebels, backed by Russian airstrikes, hoping to take back territory in Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Latakia.
Syrian state TV said the two presidents discussed the continuing military operations in Syria against "terrorist" groups, a catch-all term that the regime and Moscow use to refer to the rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, as well as plans for ground campaigns.
Putin was quoted as saying he would assist on the military and political fronts in Syria and would contact other foreign powers in an effort to reach a settlement to the crisis.
The Russian president is due to speak to an audience of foreign politicians and Russia watchers in Sochi on Thursday. Since addressing the UN general assembly last month in a call for the world to come together to fight terrorism, he has been keen to emphasise that Russia must be part of the solution in Syria.
"Putin wants to be seen talking to Assad," said Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, on the sidelines of the Sochi conference. "He is the only channel through which we're likely to get Assad on board to any kind of transition and this impression will be reinforced by this meeting," he said.
[Source: By Kareem Shaheen in Beirut, The Guardian, London, 21Oct15]
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 | This document has been published on 22Oct15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |