RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria. He gave the command during a surprise visit to Khmeimim Airbase in Syria’s Latakia province yesterday morning.
A ‘significant part’ of the Russian military contingent in Syria should return to Russia, Putin announced, addressing Russian military personnel at Khmeimim. The order to withdraw followed the defeat of ‘the most battle-hardened grouping of international terrorists’ by the Russian and Syrian militaries in the space of two years.
As he arrived at the base, which houses Russian forces assisting Syria in the battle against Islamic State terrorists (IS, formerly ISIS), the Russian president was greeted by his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, and by Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu.
Putin was on his way to bilateral talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, followed by a meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Russian special forces, military police, sapper teams and 25 aircraft will now leave Syria, and the field hospital will be removed.
However, Putin warned that should the terrorists try to ‘rear their heads’ in Syria again, Russia will strike them as ‘they have never seen before’. Russia will continue to use Khmeimim Airbase and the Syrian port of Tartus, which provides technical support for the Russian Navy, while the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria also remains.
Syria was ‘preserved as a sovereign and independent state’ and refugees are returning home, the Russian president noted. He discussed the organisation of a Syrian people’s congress and further steps towards peaceful settlement, with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey yesterday.
At a Cairo press conference following a meeting with al-Sisi, Putin said that any decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is ‘counterproductive’ and ‘destabilising,’ in criticism of the recent step by US President Donald Trump.
‘We consider counterproductive any moves that preempt the result of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians,’ Putin said during a state visit to Egypt yesterday.
