© Flickr/ cryogenic666
One year after the beginning of Russia's aerial anti-terrorist campaign in Syria, not many would question the efficiency of the country's Aerospace Forces, but at the same time the operation has not resulted in a clear victory yet.
During the campaign, Russia succeeded not only at accomplishing a number of military missions in Syria, inflicting damage on terrorists' infrastructure, creating conditions for a counteroffensive of the Syrian army, but also at strengthening Moscow's international positions.
Despite the fact that Russia's Aerospace Forces had played a crucial role in support of Syria's legitimate government, which is admitted by numerous experts, the final victory over terrorists is an issue of a distant future. At the same time, there is also no progress in political settlement of the crisis: intra-Syria talks have collapsed in April in Geneva when members of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee (HNC), supported by Saudi Arabia and several western states, walked away from the negotiations citing the failure of the Syrian government to commit to reconciliation process. At the moment it is still not clear if the negotiations are resumed.
The Syrian conflict is accompanied by disputes between the most significant foreign states that have a certain influence on the situation in the region. The recent agreement between Moscow and Washington brought hope that all the contradictions could be ironed out, but September attacks of the US-led coalition against the positions of the Syrian army had almost nullified the efforts aimed at strengthening of cooperation on the Syrian issue.
Moscow admits the fact that the pace of developments is not fully in line with initial plans for the Russian campaign against the militants of the Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al Sham (previously known as al-Nusra Front) terrorists groups, which are outlawed in many countries, including Russia.
"When we launched the operation and our Aerospace Forces engaged in anti-terror fight, we expected the operation to last only several months. Today we mark the one-year anniversary [of the campaign] and one can still see no end to it," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said.
Comment: While there is still much work left to be done, the effects of Russia's intervention in Syria are still rippling across the globe. From standing up to the imperial US bully to showcasing Russia's incredible military skill, Putin's decision to fight against Western imperialism will continue to have repercussions across the world. One report states that Russia saved Syria from
becoming part of a New Ottoman Empire (beholden to the West, of course), while Iranian officials state that Russia saved Syria from
disintegration and the Syrian
moderate opposition at Khmeimim credit Russia with maintaining "our state's structure and institutions and our ethnic diversity ... Russian actions have prevented Syria from going down the path of Iraq, Libya, Yemen."
More specifically, Syrian army officers
chimed in about Russian assistance in the August counteroffensive against terrorists attacking Aleppo:
We wouldn't have been sitting here now. Probably, there wouldn't have been any Aleppo at all. ... Russian officers are men of their words. It is only true now when Moscow said it won't leave us, it hasn't left us and keeps helping us in every possible way.
Former Syrian prime minister
Wael Nader Halqi:
The establishing of the Hmeymim center where a group of political activists and politicians and party leaders and opposition leaders have met and hundreds of reconciliations were made, has spared Syrian villages entering the furnace of war and its horrors and thus our Russian friends have played an important role in completing what was first started by the Syrian government.
One thing is for sure, the world has changed due to the efforts of Putin and Russia to fight against the US. While that fight is definitely not over, one has to wonder just where we would be without the decision last year by Putin to stand up for the world. We would likely be in a much worse place, so we should all
thank Putin for his actions.
Comment: While there is still much work left to be done, the effects of Russia's intervention in Syria are still rippling across the globe. From standing up to the imperial US bully to showcasing Russia's incredible military skill, Putin's decision to fight against Western imperialism will continue to have repercussions across the world. One report states that Russia saved Syria from becoming part of a New Ottoman Empire (beholden to the West, of course), while Iranian officials state that Russia saved Syria from disintegration and the Syrian moderate opposition at Khmeimim credit Russia with maintaining "our state's structure and institutions and our ethnic diversity ... Russian actions have prevented Syria from going down the path of Iraq, Libya, Yemen."
More specifically, Syrian army officers chimed in about Russian assistance in the August counteroffensive against terrorists attacking Aleppo: Former Syrian prime minister Wael Nader Halqi: One thing is for sure, the world has changed due to the efforts of Putin and Russia to fight against the US. While that fight is definitely not over, one has to wonder just where we would be without the decision last year by Putin to stand up for the world. We would likely be in a much worse place, so we should all thank Putin for his actions.