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Moscow has condemned “external forces” seeking to escalate violence in Syria, despite Ukrainian military intelligence reports that Russia is to send mercenaries to support the weakening forces allied with Damascus.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed outside actors for fueling a recent mass rebel offensive after Islamist militants led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized control of the city of Aleppo over the weekend in a shock offensive.
Zakharova emphasized Moscow’s support for Damascus’ counterattack, despite reports that Russia has begun withdrawing ships from its naval base in Tartus. Militia forces led by HTS are engaged in fierce clashes with Syrian army forces 50 miles outside the provincial capital of Hama.
The Defense Ministry in Damascus said large reinforcements had been sent to the city of Hama to bolster frontline troops, while rebels said they were increasing control of towns in Hama province northwest of the city as a second front pushed sound towards Hama.
The fighting continued in the east Syriawhere forces loyal to Damascus, backed by Iran and Iranian-backed militias, are fighting Arab-majority rebel militias from the city of Deir Ezzor. The Pentagon said it destroyed rocket launchers, a tank and mortars that posed a “clear and immediate threat” to US and support forces near the Euphrates River, the second such pre-emptive strike in the area in less than a week.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assadhas relied heavily on support from Moscow and Tehran, as well as Iran-backed Iraqi militias, to maintain control of the fractured country, which quickly turned into a proxy war after a popular uprising against his rule in 2011.
The rebels’ sudden seizure of territory in the northwest, which Zakharova described as a “bold act”, marked the biggest challenge to Assad’s rule in years and the first time in more than a decade of Syria’s civil war that the entire city of Aleppo is apparently under total control of the opposition.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) said planned rotations of Russian troops from Syria had been suspended, while morale among Russian military personnel fighting in Syria was low due to the surprise rebel advance. Both the Syrian army and Russian reserves suffered “significant losses”, it said, including what it described as a “chaotic” retreat from their positions as troops abandoned military equipment and weapons.
Moscow will reinforce forces in Syria using private military companies expected to arrive in Syria, according to HUR. It has been suggested that these forces are likely to be drawn from Russia’s Afrika Korps, a mercenary force that is a renamed version of the Wagner Group’s state-funded militia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to meet his counterparts from Iran and Turkey in Qatar in the coming days for urgent consultations on Syria. Ankara has backed rebel groups in northwestern Syria, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a phone call that Damascus should engage in political consultations to end the civil war.
Turkey is “doing everything possible to restore calm in Syria,” he added.
According to the Kremlin, Putin “stressed the urgent need” to end the rebellion, advocating for Ankara to play a role in what he called Damascus’ efforts “to restore stability and constitutional order throughout the country.”
The head of Syria’s civil defense rescue service, known as the White Helmets, told the UN Security Council that Russian airstrikes on the rebel-held enclave of Idlib earlier this week knocked out four hospitals in the city.
“As the map of military control has changed, brutal attacks launched by the Syrian regime, Russia and Iranian cross-border militias against Syrians have escalated, especially in areas outside their control in northwestern Syria,” he said. The White Helmets responded to 275 attacks, killing 100 civilians and wounding 360, he added.
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