Russia, a strong supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has condemned the unexpected advance of anti-government Islamist rebels into the city of Aleppo as an attack on Syrian sovereignty.
“Of course this is an attack on Syrian sovereignty in this region,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.
However, his words suggested that Moscow did not see itself as responsible for stopping the offensive.
“We are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the region as quickly as possible and restoring constitutional order,” he said, according to state news agency TASS.
Russia intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015, helping to consolidate al-Assad’s shaky grip on power with its superior air force.
Russia was mainly involved in the recapture of Aleppo by the Syrian army in 2016, which resulted in many civilian casualties.
However, Moscow reduced its troop presence in Syria from 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to TASS, Russian military experts believe that Russia’s Hamaimim airbase and Tartus naval base in the country will be protected from possible rebel attacks.
Syrian opposition fighters stand next to a captured Syrian regime tank in the town of Kafr Naya in the countryside of Aleppo province. The armed Syrian opposition factions within the theater of operations (the Military Operations Department) launched a military operation under the name of deterring aggression in the governorates of Idlib and Aleppo, and took control of more than 60 cities under the control of the Syrian regime stood. armed forces and the Iranian-backed militias. Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
Smoke rises from a Syrian regime airstrike on the town of Kafr Naya in rural Aleppo. The armed Syrian opposition factions within the theater of operations (the Military Operations Department) launched a military operation under the name of deterring aggression in the governorates of Idlib and Aleppo, and took control of more than 60 cities under the control of the Syrian regime stood. armed forces and the Iranian-backed militias. Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
