Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday evening flew to Moscow to personally thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for his military support, in a surprise visit that underlined how Russia has become a major player in the Middle East.
It was al-Assad’s first foreign trip since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011, and came three weeks after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State group militants in Syria that has also bolstered al-Assad’s forces.
The Kremlin kept the visit quiet until yesterday morning, broadcasting a meeting between the two men in the Kremlin and releasing a transcript of an exchange they had.
Photo: AFP
A spokesman for al-Assad told Agence France-Presse yesterday that the Syrian leader had returned to Damascus.
Putin said he hoped progress on the military front would be followed by moves toward a political solution in Syria, bolstering Western hopes Moscow will use its increased influence on Damascus to cajole al-Assad into talking to his opponents.
Iran has also long been a strong Syrian government ally, and the fact that al-Assad chose to visit Moscow before Tehran is likely to be interpreted in some circles as a sign that Russia has now emerged as his most important foreign friend.
Russian state TV made the meeting its top news item, showing al-Assad, dressed in a dark suit, talking to Putin, together with the Russian foreign and defense ministers.
The Kremlin has cast its intervention in Syria as a common sense move designed to roll back “international terrorism” in the face of what it says is ineffective action from Washington.
It is likely to use al-Assad’s visit to buttress its domestic narrative that its air campaign is just and effective and to underline its assertion that the foray shows it has shaken off the Ukraine crisis to become a serious global player.
“First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria,” al-Assad told Putin. “If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater territory.”
Al-Assad, who looked relaxed, emphasized how Russia was acting according to international law, praising Moscow’s political approach to the Syrian crisis which he said had ensured it had not played out according to “a more tragic scenario.”
Ultimately, he said, the resolution to the crisis was a political one.
“Terrorism is a real obstacle to a political solution,” al-Assad said. “And of course the whole [Syrian] people want to take part in deciding the fate of their state, and not just the leadership.”
Putin said Russia was ready to help find a political solution and hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants “almost on their own,” saying the Syrian army had notched up serious battlefield success in recent times.
He said Russia had felt compelled to act in Syria because of the threat Islamist militants fighting al-Assad’s forces there posed to its own security.
“Unfortunately on Syrian territory there are about 4,000 people from the former Soviet Union — at a minimum — fighting government forces with weapons in their hands,” Putin said. “We, it goes without saying, cannot allow them to turn up on Russian territory after they have received battlefield experience and undergone ideological instruction.”
In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday told reporters that he wished al-Assad had stayed in Moscow longer to give his people “relief” and start a political transition.
Davutoglu also reiterated Turkey’s position that al-Assad should have no role in Syria’s future, insisting that efforts to find a solution to the Syrian crisis should focus “on formulas for Assad’s departure.”
Additional reporting by AP
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS