The Kremlin said on Friday (29) that it wanted the Syrian government to restore constitutional order in the Aleppo region as quickly as possible after a rebel offensive that captured territory for the first time in years.
Russia, a strong ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, intervened militarily alongside Assad against rebel insurgents in 2015 in its biggest foray into the Middle East since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and maintains an air base and a naval facility in Syria.
Rebels led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched an incursion last Wednesday (27) on a dozen cities and towns in the northwestern province of Aleppo, which is controlled by Assad’s forces.
It was the first territorial advance of its kind since March 2020, when Russia and rebel-backing Turkey agreed to a ceasefire that led to a halt to military action in Syria’s last major rebel stronghold in the northwest.
Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed a rebel-held area near the border with Turkey on Thursday to try to repel the insurgents, rebel and Syrian army sources said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow considered the rebel attack a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and wanted authorities to act quickly to regain control.
“As for the situation around Aleppo, it is an attack on Syrian sovereignty and we are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as quickly as possible,” Peskov said.
Asked about unconfirmed reports in Russian Telegram that Assad had flown to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said he had “nothing to say” on the matter.
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 fight 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 wants Syria to quickly restore order after rebel offensive on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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