Russia seeks to establish contact with Free Syrian Army and other opposition groups to end conflict with political settlement

RT
Wed, 07 Oct 2015 19:25 UTC

© Aleksey Nikolskyi / RIA Novosti

President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu at the Bocharov Ruchei residence.

The Russian Defense Ministry is ready to assist Assad's military and the Free Syrian Army in uniting forces against Islamic State jihadists and other terror groups, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

In a statement Wednesday, Zakharova said that such diplomatic efforts are "based on the position voiced by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin," adding that Moscow will carry on with contacts with the "whole spectrum" of Syrian opposition.

Following Putin's orders, the Foreign Ministry is now also seeking to establish contacts with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) leadership to discuss the possibility of their involvement into the process of political settlement of the Syrian crisis.

Earlier Wednesday, the Russian president revealed that his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, had proposed uniting the FSA forces and President Assad's army to battle Islamic State terrorists. It could create the ground for political settlement in Syria, Putin added.

"During [my] recent visit to Paris, French President Francois Hollande expressed an interesting idea, saying it is worth trying to unite the efforts of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's army and the so-called Free Syrian Army," Putin said during a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

Comment: Interestingly, Hollande tacitly denied saying such a thing, when he publicly endorsed the opposite idea in his Wednesday speech to the European Parliament:

Hollande said: "Know that it will not be possible to reunite the opposition — I am talking about the moderate opposition, the democratic opposition — with the executioner of the Syrian people."

Reuters allegedly contacted a French source:

Associating moderate rebels from the Free Syrian Army and government forces to fight Islamic State was not a French idea, a source close to French President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday.

Why the discrepancy? Perhaps something Bashar al-Assad told Iranian TV recently can shed some light on the possible motivations for saying one thing in private and another in public:

When we talk about these states, we are taking about an integrated system. We use the term "Western countries", but these Western countries have one master, which is the United States. All these countries behave in accordance with the dictates of the American maestro. Now, the statements of all these countries are similar. They say the same thing, and when they attack Syria, they use the same language. That is why when the United States gives the signal, these countries move in a certain direction, but there is usually a distribution of roles. At that time France was asked to play that role, considering the relatively good historical relations between France and Syria since independence. There is a big Syrian community in France, and there are economic, even military, and of course political relations. That is why the best option for them was to ask France, and not any other country. But ultimately, Western officials follow the orders of the American administration. This is a fact.

He said, however, that Russia does not know where exactly the FSA is or who heads it.

"If we assume that this [FSA] is the military wing of the so-called healthy part of the opposition, then uniting their forces [with Assad's army] against the common enemy - ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations - could create good ground for the political settlement in Syria," Putin added.

According to the Russian president, a political solution should end conflicts like the one in Syria.

"Such conflicts should end through solving political issues," he said.

Putin praised the preliminary results of the Russian Air Force operation in Syria against Islamic State militants.

"We know how complicated these anti-terrorist operations are. It is too early to review the results, but what has been done deserves high positive assessment."

Russia will give support to the Syrian Army's fight on the ground against Islamic State, Putin said.

"As for further work, we hope that it will be synchronized with the actions of the Syrian Army on the ground and military-space forces will effectively support the offensive operation of the Syrian Army [against terrorists]."

Putin ordered the Russian military to continue cooperation with the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq and Iran on Syria.

"We should continue working with our foreign partners. Because without their participation, without the participation of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, US, Iraq, Iran and neighboring countries, it will be hard to organize such work in a proper way," Putin said.

Moscow launched its military operation against Islamic State terrorists at the request of the Syrian government on September 30. Since the start of the operation, the Russian military have destroyed at least 112 objects belonging to jihadists.

Among them are 19 commanding points, 12 ammunition depots, 71 armored vehicles and six factories that produced explosive devices, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Wednesday.

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Comment: Putin clearly has a forward thinking strategy to resolve the conflict in Syria. It's more than just decimating ISIS; he sees how a political resolution is needed between the actual but corrupted opposition forces within Syria. This is a similar strategy Putin used when he defeated the proxy Chechen terror forces when he first rose to power in Russia. This isn't his first rodeo! Not only does Putin know how to effectively remove the scourge to humanity, but he also knows how to rebuild. The offer to the Free Syrian Army is likely a symbolic gesture since it's doubtful they really exist in any official capacity, however it opens the doors to any Syrian leaders within the opposition that may wish to be a part of the political process.