Russia, a close supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has condemned the unexpected advance of anti-government Islamist rebels on the city of Aleppo as an attack on Syria’s sovereignty.
“Of course this is an encroachment on Syria’s sovereignty in this region,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow.
However, his words suggested that Moscow did not see itself as responsible for stopping the offensive.
“We are in favour of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the region as quickly as possible and restoring constitutional order,” he said, according to the state news agency TASS.
Russia intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015 and, with its superior air power, helped to consolidate al-Assad’s wavering grip on power.
Russia was particularly 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 beginning in 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to TASS, Russian military experts believe that Russia’s Hamaimim airbase and the 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 operations room (the Military Operations Department), launched a military operation under the name of deterring aggression in Idlib and Aleppo governorates, and took control of more than 60 towns that were under the control of the Syrian regime forces and the Iranian-backed militias. Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
Smoke billows as a result of a Syrian regime airstrike targeting the town of Kafr Nayain the Aleppo countryside. The armed Syrian opposition factions, within the operations room (the Military Operations Department), launched a military operation under the name of deterring aggression in Idlib and Aleppo governorates, and took control of more than 60 towns that were under the control of the Syrian regime forces and the Iranian-backed militias. Anas Alkharboutli/dpa