Putin wins no friends in overture to Assad enemies

Share:

putin worried about his next mealPresident Vladimir Putin’s overture to opponents of Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria was snubbed on Monday, with Saudi sources saying they had warned the Kremlin leader of dangerous consequences and Europe issuing its strongest criticism yet.

Nearly two weeks since joining the 4-year-old war in Syria, Putin took his biggest step to win over regional opponents, meeting Saudi Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of a Formula One race in a Russian resort on Sunday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that those talks, along with discussions with the United States, had yielded progress on the conflict, although Moscow, Washington and Riyadh did not agree in full “as yet”.

But a Saudi source said the defense minister, a son of the Saudi king and one of the chief architects of its regional policy, had told Putin that Russia’s intervention would escalate the war and inspire militants from around the world to go fight.

Riyadh would continue to support Assad’s opponents and demand that the Syrian leader leave power, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity while describing the talks with the Russians.

European foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, issued a statement calling on Moscow to halt its bombing of Assad’s moderate enemies immediately.

“The recent Russian military attacks … are of deep concern and must cease immediately,” ministers said in their most strongly-worded statement on Russia’s intervention in a war which has claimed the lives of 250,000 people and caused a refugee crisis in neighboring countries and Europe.

“The military escalation risks prolonging the conflict, undermining a political process, aggravating the humanitarian situation and increasing radicalization,” said the ministers.

Moscow says it is targeting only banned terrorist groups in Syria, primarily Islamic State. In its daily briefings, it describes all of the targets it strikes as belonging to Islamic State, although most of them have taken place in parts of the country held by other opposition groups, including many that are supported by Arab states, Turkey and the West.

FIERCEST CLASHES

For the first time since World War Two, Russian forces are flying combat missions in the same air space as Americans, who are leading a military coalition of Western and regional countries that is also bombing Islamic State.

Those countries say Assad’s presence makes the situation worse and he must leave power in any peace settlement. They accuse Moscow of using Islamic State as a pretext to bomb other enemies of Assad, charge denied by Russia.

Syrian forces and their allies from the Lebanese Shi’ite militia Hezbollah, backed by Iranian military officers, have launched a massive ground offensive in coordination with the Russian air support.

They fought their fiercest clashes on Monday since the assault began, advancing in strategically important territory near the north-south highway linking Syria’s main cities.

Russian warplanes carried out at least 30 air strikes on the town of Kafr Nabuda in Hama province in western Syria, and hundreds of shells hit the area as the Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters seized part of it, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict.

The Observatory and Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen television station said the pro-government forces captured the southern part of the town on Monday.

“These are the most violent battles in the northern countryside (of Hama) since the start of joint operations several days ago” between the Russian air force and Syrian ground forces, said the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman.

STRATEGIC HIGHWAY

Syria’s army chief of staff was cited by the state news agency as saying forces had taken control of Kafr Nabuda. Capturing the town would bring government forces closer to insurgent-held positions along the main highway that links Syria’s main cities.

Russia said it carried out 55 sorties and hit 53 of what it described as Islamic State targets in the last 24 hours.

The Syrian army and Hezbollah on Sunday took control of Tal Skik on the other side of the highway in southern Idlib province. Many of Russia’s air strikes have hit the surrounding area, which also lies east of Assad’s stronghold Latakia.

The Russian intervention in Syria has wrongfooted the U.S. administration of PresidentBarack Obama, which has been trying to defeat Islamic State while still calling for Assad’s downfall.

Last week, Washington shelved a program to train and equip “moderate” rebels opposed to Assad who would join the fight against Islamic State. The only group on the ground to have success against Islamic State while cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition is a Kurdish militia, the YPG, which has carved out an autonomous zone in northern Syria and advanced deep into Islamic State’s stronghold Raqqa province.

On Monday, the YPG announced a new alliance with small groups of Arab fighters, which could help deflect criticism that if fights only on behalf of Kurds. Washington has indicated that it could direct funding and weapons to Arab commanders on the ground who cooperate with the YPG.

REUTERS

Share:

Comments

27 responses to “Putin wins no friends in overture to Assad enemies”

  1. When Stalin was told that the Pope now backed him in WW2, he asked, “How many divisions does he have?”
    Putin thinks the same way: unless you are going to deploy troops against my troops, I could care less.

      1. Not complaining (though he was a mass murderer worse than Hitler). Just saying that Russian rulers could not care less about “world opinion.”
        In fact, czars have a long history of “facts on the ground” that was adopted by socialist Jewish pioneers in Israel: build a house and it is now your house. Putin does the same, except with Crimea.
        Different, but parallel. In the end, the doers win. I am afraid that in the long term, Putin will probably win.

        1. Hind Abyad Avatar
          Hind Abyad

          Putin Putin.. what about.. Bibi Bib..i gave also a send link.
          “Stalin’s Jews”
          http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3342999,00.html

          “socialist Jewish pioneers in Israel: build a house and it is now your house. Putin does the same, except in Crimea”.
          Or Ukraine, whatever, is not the whole Middle East where Christians are disappearing, he doesn’t claim any Caliphate like Khazar Chechen, right?

          1. i do not know how to reply to this. i cannot understand your point. can we just agree that you hate Jews and that you feel that they are responsible for much more damage in the world currently and in history than any other group of people?
            we will agree to disagree.

          2. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            No we can’t agree, i don’t hate Jews and the link is from a Jewish site.

          3. your other one was from a Nazi site (which often links to Israeli media). how come you hate Israel but love their media?

          4. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Here’s one before Nazis existed..In 1920, Churchill wrote a long newspaper article of the recent Bolshevik seizure of Russia.

            First he praised what he called the “national Jews” of Russia:

            SOME people like Jews and some do not; but no thoughtful man can doubt the fact that they are beyond all question the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world.

            And it may well be that this same astounding race may at the present time be in the actual process of producing another system of morals and philosophy, as malevolent as Christianity was benevolent, which, if not arrested would shatter irretrievably all that Christianity has rendered possible. It would almost seem as if the gospel of Christ and the gospel of Antichrist were destined to originate among the same people; and that this mystic and mysterious race had been chosen for the supreme manifestations, both of the divine and the diabolical.

            The National Russian Jews, in spite of the disabilities under which they have suffered, have managed to play an honourable and successful part in the national life even of Russia. As bankers and industrialists they have strenuously promoted the development of Russia’s economic resources, and they were foremost in the creation of those remarkable organisations, the Russian Cooperative Societies. In politics their support has been given, for the most part, to liberal and progressive movements, and they have been among the staunchest upholders of friendship with France and Great Britain.

          5. You don’t hate Jews, huh? I could never tell.

          6. Anyone here can confirm that out everyone here, I’ve tried the hardest to be civil with hind. But hind just hates anyone not Shiite or Melkite.

          7. Thanks, I think you might be right.

          8. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Glad you said ‘might’ … hehehehe … nice, at least for the rest of us, that some corners rounded out and the perfect circle gets a notch or two. ;-))

          9. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            I voted in advance…

          10. 5thDrawer Avatar

            I think I might have shredded my ‘form’ by mistake … gotta call for a replacement … damn.

          11. Maborlz Ez-Hari Avatar
            Maborlz Ez-Hari

            Might? Not even remotely close, couldn’t be further from your square peg.

          12. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            And you defend ISIS.

          13. Blah blahblah.
            You are incorrigible.

          14. As for dictator. That’s rich coming from you!
            You are the only one that tells people who they can and can’t speak to. So if anyone fits the description of “dictator” it is you!
            You honestly have mental issues.

          15. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            I said Zionists, not Jews, you make me sick the way you treat Palestinians..

          16. Maborlz Ez-Hari Avatar
            Maborlz Ez-Hari

            Do you ever think that if the shoe was on the other foot, that the Palestinians would give a hoot about others? Maybe it’s just human nature whether we want to believe it or not, that we want to conquer others and keep them subject to our own ideology. I for example want Catholics to be the examples for every Christian, I think homosexuals should keep in the dark and not impose their lifestyles on others, Moslems should practise their faith without resorting to head chops, in my ideal world that’s the compromise I would like to see. But the reality is it’s every man for himself, so maybe we need to turn the blind eye and pretend the rest don’t exist or even worse just don’t have any ideals at all that would be the most convenient.

          17. ” I think homosexuals should keep in the dark”

            Looks like homosexuals have won over homophobes.
            Homophobic retards are illegal while homosexuals are legal. :))))
            So looks like you need to keep your homophobia in the dark. Xxoo

          18. Maborlz Ez-Hari Avatar
            Maborlz Ez-Hari

            Like I said maybe no ideals would best suit this world and the likes of O. Legal or illegal doesn’t mean it’s right it wrong. Enjoy your victory it will be short lived and the most empty cause you’ve stuck up for O. Toodaloo…….Rahab.

          19. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            That was Winston Churchill article in 1920 not mine, my grand mother was not born yet.
            W. Churchill admired (Zionist) Jews, he gave them Palestine:)

          20. 5thDrawer Avatar

            (so young and sexy … not even a grandmother around by 1920 … mmmmmmmm)

          21. 5thDrawer Avatar

            Well Barry … really … Anyone with any thought processing ability can’t just sit and watch Football all the time, interspersed with ‘Bombing-News Of The Day’.
            One would go crazy.

          22. 5thDrawer Avatar

            I dare to add: There’s a bunch of us ‘square pegs slamming into round holes’ in here. ๐Ÿ™‚
            We are NOT ‘the majority’…. Unfortunately, I think, at times … But some rounded corners on occasion smooths an entry. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  2. Anti ISIS Avatar

    And like Putin gives a flying F what those pigs the Saudis think.
    What’s funny is the Saudi pigs think that their option is actually relevant to Russia.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *