Direct from the Kremilin: Russia's President, Vladimir Putin and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad had a phone converstaion on March 14 about scheduling a withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria. They agreed that much progress has been made against terrorism in Syria, with Russia's invited help. The ceasefire seems to be working. Russia will maintain an aviation support centre in Syria to monitor compliance with the ceasefire. President Assad said he is ready to help organise a political settlement in Syria as soon as possible. The two presidents expressed the hope that the full-format talks between Syrian Government officials and opposition representatives under UN aegis in Geneva will produce concrete results.
Telephone conversation with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad
At Russia’s initiative, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad.
March 14, 2016, 20:40 Press release from the Kremlin at http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51512.
The two presidents discussed the implementation of the joint statement by Russia and the United States, in their capacity as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, on cessation of hostilities in Syria. They share the view that the ceasefire has made possible a dramatic reduction in the bloodshed in the country and improved the humanitarian situation. It has also made it possible to put in place conditions for starting a peace process under UN aegis.
The two leaders noted that the operations conducted by Russia’s Aerospace Forces have brought about a real turnabout in the fight against the terrorists in Syria, throwing their infrastructure into disarray and causing them substantial damage.
In this context, Mr Putin said that Russia’s Armed Forces have fulfilled their main mission in Syria and a timetable for the withdrawal of the Aerospace Forces’ main air grouping has been agreed. Russia will maintain an aviation support centre in Syria in order to monitor compliance with the ceasefire.
The President of Syria noted the professionalism, courage and heroism of the Russian service personnel who took part in the military operations, and expressed his profound gratitude to Russia for providing such substantial help in fighting terrorism and providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population.
Mr al-Assad said that he is ready to help organise a political settlement in the country as soon as possible. The two presidents expressed the hope that the full-format talks between Syrian Government officials and opposition representatives under UN aegis in Geneva will produce concrete results.
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Geoffrey Taylor
Tue, 2016-03-15 23:51
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RT video: Lizzie Phelan's concerns about Russian withdrawal
RT's Lizzie Phelan raises concerns about Russian withdrawal from Syria
In the above video, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Defence Minister state their plans to pull out most Russian military forces from Syria, except for the air base at Lattakia and the naval port at Tartus. The reasons they give are that the terrorists have been defeated and that the Syrian Army, Hezbollah and the Kurdish YPP have matters under control.
RT's reporter in Syria, Lizzie Phelan, largely confirms this. However, she goes on to point out that there was fear amongst local Syrians that some terrorists may use the opportunity to relaunch their war against the Syrian Government. There had been daily breaches of the ceasefire by terrorists. Lizzie Phelan, herself, had only recently witnessed, near her, the explosions of two mortar bombs launched by terrorists, explode near her in Daraa.
admin
Wed, 2016-03-16 23:36
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Video: SyrianGirl explains Russia's withdrawal from Syria
Dave Macilwain (not verified)
Thu, 2016-03-17 09:00
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SBS propaganda continues on World News
March 15, 2016 SBS’s 6.30pm news report, which began with the surprise announcement of Russia’s withdrawal, contained a ‘brief history’ of the Syrian conflict.
After saying that the ‘Arab Spring’ had brought upheavals around the region, the presenter put it like this:
The attached shot ‘SBS world news’, showing a small protest rally about to pull down a poster of Hafez and Bashar al Assad could have been in Dara’a, or more likely a suburb of Damascus, so fits with the first part of the description. But as the presenter said ‘and Aleppo’, the screen changed to the second photo, which shows one of the big rallies in support of the government in Damascus, that took place perhaps in May or June?
I would contend that almost no-one would see that other than as a photo of a massive anti-government protest, remembering that the SBS audience is not familiar with that picture from watching their news, because those rallies were never shown at the time – to my knowledge.
Continuing the propaganda theme, SBS's presentation of the ‘history’ then suggested that the fighting began between defecting soldiers and the army, – and not much before October.
As I remember there had already been some major atrocities and attacks committed in Homs, which was visited by the UN observers around then.
The SBS 'report' continued, describing Kofi Annan’s efforts, ‘which failed following the Houla massacre.’ Needless to say, although this was simply described as 100 people ‘killed’ and 49 children, the failure to attribute blame, or identify the people, framed it as a government atrocity.
Then we see photos of ruined apartment blocks from the air, and hear that ‘the UN declared it a civil war, and the country split along sectarian lines’ – ‘June 2012’.
And that was it.
So why did SBS steer clear of reminding us about the Ghouta CW ‘attack’? Is that because we might begin to think, and remember that Russia also got us out of that war, just as it is doing now?
It’s hard to know where to go with this, because there is no-one in the government saying or thinking remotely the right thing. Tanya Plibersek was interviewed this morning by Fran Kelly, talking all about Iran’s HR abuses and ‘how you get killed for being gay’, and then talking about Assad having to go and so on.
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