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Russia says it didn’t take part in negotiations
Russia mentioned on Sunday, December 8, that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had left workplace and departed his nation after giving orders for a peaceable switch of energy, however didn’t say the place he was now or whether or not the Russian army deliberate to remain in Syria.
Islamist rebels declared that they had ousted Assad after seizing management of Damascus on Sunday, ending his household’s a long time of autocratic rule after greater than 13 years of civil warfare.
Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown vacation spot earlier on Sunday, two senior military officers instructed Reuters. His present whereabouts had been unknown.
“Because of negotiations between B. Assad and quite a few individuals within the armed battle on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, he determined to resign from the presidency and left the nation, giving directions for a peaceable switch of energy,” Russia’s Overseas Ministry mentioned in an announcement.
“Russia didn’t take part in these negotiations.”
There have been unconfirmed media studies that Assad had been visiting Moscow, the place his elder son studied, when rebels reached Aleppo late final month, earlier than returning to Syria. The Kremlin declined to touch upon the matter on the time and it’s unclear whether or not Russia has provided him refuge now.
Moscow, a staunch backer of Assad whom it intervened to assist in 2015 in its largest Center East foray because the Soviet collapse, is scrambling to salvage its place with its geopolitical clout within the wider area and two strategically-important army bases in Syria on the road.
Navy bases
The Kremlin, which convened a convention name with reporters on Sunday to set out its response to a name by US President-elect Donald Trump for fast talks on Ukraine, made no touch upon the unfolding scenario in Syria, saying its stance had been set out within the international ministry assertion.
The ministry’s assertion mentioned Russia’s two army services in Syria had been placed on a state of excessive alert, however performed down an instantaneous threat to them.
“There may be presently no severe menace to their safety,” the ministry mentioned.
Russia operates the Hmeimim air base in Syria’s Latakia province which it has used to launch airstrikes in opposition to rebels prior to now, and has a naval facility at Tartous on the coast.
The Tartous facility is Russia’s solely Mediterranean restore and replenishment hub, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging submit to fly its army contractors out and in of Africa.
Shedding Tartous specifically can be a severe blow to Russia’s potential to undertaking energy within the Center East, the Mediterranean and Africa, say Western army analysts.
Russian warfare bloggers, a few of whom are near the Russian Protection Ministry and get extra freedom from Russian authorities to talk out than army officers, have warned that the bases are actually dangerously uncovered no matter what Moscow says formally.
The Overseas Ministry mentioned Moscow was alarmed by occasions in Syria.
“We urge all events concerned to chorus from using violence and to resolve all problems with governance by means of political means,” its assertion mentioned.
“In that regard, the Russian Federation is involved with all teams of the Syrian opposition.”
It mentioned it was additionally doing all it may to make sure the security of Russian residents in Syria, whom the embassy on Friday suggested to depart the nation. The Russian Embassy in Damascus instructed the state TASS information company on Sunday that its employees had been “high-quality.” – Rappler.com
