Russian war bloggers claimed this Sunday (1st) that Moscow fired Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of the country’s forces in Syria, after insurgents invaded the city of Aleppo, in the greatest challenge to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is ally of Russia in years.
The dismissal of Kisel, 53, was reported by the Rybar Telegram channel, which is close to the Russian Ministry of Defense, and by the blog Voenny Osvedomitel (Military Informant).
The department did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters until the publication of this article. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has made a series of military overhauls that have not been publicly announced.
Unconfirmed media reports indicated that Kisel was replaced by Colonel General Alexander Chaiko.
Military blogs have criticized the performance of Kisel, who previously commanded Russia’s 1st Guards Tank Army in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where Moscow’s forces were repelled in a lightning counterattack by Ukrainian troops in late 2022.
“Apparently, he was supposed to reveal his hidden talents in Syria, but something got in the way again,” wrote Voenny Osvedomitel.
Rybar speculated that Russia could even turn to Sergei Surovikin, a general who earned the nickname “General Armageddon” for his ruthlessness in Syria and who was briefly in command of the Ukrainian war effort.
Surovikin was demoted last year when unconfirmed reports indicated he had been investigated for possible complicity in an anti-Russian mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group.
Rebel advance in Syria
The insurgents’ advance into Syria was the first since March 2020, when Russia and Turkey, which supports the rebels, agreed to a ceasefire that led to a halt to military action in the northwest of the country.
This Sunday, the Syrian Army reported that it had recaptured several cities that were invaded by rebels in recent days.
The insurgents are a coalition of armed groups backed by Turkey, along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group that is the main military force opposing Assad.
Aleppo had been under Syrian government control since 2016, when Russian-backed Syrian forces besieged and devastated eastern areas that were controlled by the rebels.
Understand the conflict in Syria
Syria’s civil war began during the Arab Spring in 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad suppressed a pro-democracy uprising.
The country was plunged into full-scale conflict when a rebel force was formed, known as the Free Syrian Army, to fight government troops.
Furthermore, the Islamic State, a terrorist group, also managed to gain a foothold in the country and came to control 70% of Syrian territory.
Fighting escalated as other regional actors and world powers — from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States to Russia — joined in, escalating the country’s war into what some observers described as a “proxy war.”
Russia has allied with Bashar al-Assad’s government to combat the Islamic State and rebels, while the United States has led an international coalition to repel the terrorist group.
After a ceasefire agreement in 2020, the conflict remained largely “dormant”, with minor clashes between the rebels and the Assad regime.
More than 300,000 civilians have been killed in more than a decade of war, according to the UN, and millions of people have been displaced across the region.
This content was originally published in Russia fires general in charge of operation in Syria, say military bloggers on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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