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12-12-2024
MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Wednesday played down the damage to Russian influence in the Middle East from the fall of Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, saying that its focus was on Ukraine and that Moscow was in contact with Syria’s new rulers.
When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil War in 2015, it helped tip the balance in Assad’s favour and his fall from power has dealt a serious setback to both Russia, which is fighting a major land war in Ukraine, and to Iran, which is battling US-backed Israel across the Middle East.
“You know, of course, that we are in contact with those who are currently in control of the situation in Syria,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Asked how much the fall of Assad had weakened Russia’s influence in the Middle East, Peskov said that Moscow maintained contacts with all countries in the region and would continue to do so.
Moscow’s priority, Peskov said, was the war in Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation”.
“The special military operation is the absolute priority for our country: we must ensure the interests of our security, the interests of our Russian people, and we shall do so,” Peskov said.
Moscow has supported Syria since the early days of the Cold War, recognizing its independence in 1944 as Damascus sought to throw off French colonial rule. The West saw Syria as a Soviet satellite.
The Kremlin said its focus now was to ensure the security of its military bases in Syria and of its diplomatic missions.
Russia, the Kremlin said, had helped Assad during the civil war but the situation had then deteriorated.
“Russia helped the Syrian Arab Republic at one time to cope with the terrorists and to stabilise the situation after this situation threatened the entire region, and spent a lot of effort for this,” Peskov said.
“Russia fulfilled its mission, and then the Assad leadership worked in their country, engaged in the development of their country. But unfortunately, the development has led to the situation that is now. And now we need to proceed from the realities that exist on the ground.”
Asked about Israeli air strikes on Syria, Peskov said that attacks on the Golan Heights area were unlikely to contribute to the stabilization of the situation.
Russia also said its military offensive on Ukraine remained its “absolute priority” amid questions over whether Moscow’s almost three-year campaign there meant it could not support long-term ally Bashar al-Assad in the face of the lightning opposition offensive.
“We would like to see the situation in the country stabilized somehow as soon as possible,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He also condemned Israel’s strikes on Syrian military installations and the establishment of a “buffer zone” as aggravating the crisis.
“The strikes, the actions in the Golan Heights and the buffer zone hardly contribute to the stabilization of the situation in the already destabilized Syria,” he said.
Russia was continuing to discuss the fate of its military infrastructure in the country with Syria’s new leadership, Peskov said.
“We are in contact with those who control the situation in Syria. This is necessary since our (military) base and diplomatic mission are there,” Peskov said.
The Tartus naval base and Hmeimim air base in Syria are Russia’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union and have been key to the Kremlin’s activities in Africa and the Middle East. (Int’l News Desk)
