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26Apr16

Hmeimim group sees sending 250 US soldiers to Syria as symbolic measure

US President Barack Obama's decision to send an additional 250 military personnel to Syria is nothing more than a symbolic move, while real fight against terrorists is carried out by Syrian government forces with support of Russian aviation, head of the Syrian opposition's Hmeimim group delegation to Geneva talks Ilian Masaad told TASS on Tuesday.

"Such forces [250 US military personnel] may take only one village in Syria under control," Masaad said. "From the military point of view, this is nothing. Obama just wanted to show that the United States is also fighting against terrorism in Syria," he added.

"Only the Syrian army may put an end to IS [Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia] if Turks and Saudis stop assisting terrorists," he noted. "Sending 250 US soldiers is a symbolic step to say 'We have not left Russians alone'," Masaad stressed.

The Kremlin press service released a statement on March 14 that the Russian and Syrian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad, agreed to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian aviation task force from Syria because the Russian Aerospace Forces had fulfilled the fundamental tasks which had been assigned to them. Russia's Aerospace Defense Forces started delivering strikes in Syria at facilities of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups (both banned in Russia) on September 30, 2015.

Russia left an air flight control center in the Syrian territory that will monitor the observation of the Syrian ceasefire, the Kremlin said. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered starting the Russian troops' withdrawal as of March 15. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov said earlier that Russian forces will continue delivering airstrikes at terrorists in Syria.

[Source: Itar Tass, Geneva, 26Apr16]
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