Kremlin to continue support for Syria president

Moscow — The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia was continuing to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after his forces lost territory to Islamist insurgents and other rebel groups and would see what help was needed to stabilise the situation.

A statement from the Syrian prime minister’s office on Monday said that Russian and Syrian aircraft were striking rebel-held positions in Aleppo’s eastern countryside, killing and wounding dozens of insurgents.

Russia, a staunch Assad ally, intervened militarily on his side against insurgents in 2015 in its biggest foray in the Middle East since the Soviet Union’s collapse and maintains an airbase and naval facility in Syria.

The Kremlin said on Friday it wanted the Syrian government to restore constitutional order as soon as possible and regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty.

Asked on Monday whether Russia planned to increase its support for Assad, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “We continue to support Bashar Al-Assad. Contacts are continuing at the appropriate levels.

“We are analysing the situation and a position will be formed on what is needed to stabilise the situation.”

Russian military bloggers said on Sunday that Moscow has dismissed Sergei Kisel, the general in charge of its forces in Syria, and replaced him with Col-Gen Alexander Chaiko.

There was no official confirmation from the Russian defence ministry of such a change.

Assad has vowed to crush the insurgents — a coalition of Turkey-backed mainstream secular armed groups along with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group that has been designated a terrorist outfit by the US, Russia, Turkey and other states.

The insurgents seized control of all of Idlib province in recent days, the boldest rebel assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.

They also swept into the city of Aleppo, east of Idlib, on Friday night, forcing the army to redeploy.

Reuters