Russia sends about 300 troops to Syria to reinforce joint posts

18 January 2021

 

Additional Russian military police units have been sent to the Syrian province of Al-Hasakah to reinforce joint observation posts with government troops, said Major Dmitry Suntsov, the chief of the joint Russian-Syrian observation post.


A total of about 300 soldiers will be stationed there, he explained.


"Our unit arrived at one of the joint observation posts in Al-Hasakah province. The main task is to contribute to the de-escalation of the conflict in the region. Our servicemen monitor the observance of the ceasefire regime and also provide all kinds of assistance to the local population," Suntsov said.


According to the agreements between Moscow and Ankara on the stabilization of the situation in the region, military police units are deployed at observation posts in the province of Al-Hasakah, in the northeastern part of Syria, which borders Turkey. For example, in late December, Russian servicemen arrived at a post in the town of Ain Issa, where Syrian troops had been repeatedly shelled and even attacked by illegal armed groups. However, when the post became joint, their activity decreased.


The first unit of the reinforcement has already arrived in Hasek, and several more will join it shortly. These are the best-trained servicemen with experience in various tasks in Syria.


They will be stationed at observation posts in the towns of Ain Issa, Tell Tamer, Amuda and other locations. The military transport aircraft also delivered additional weapons, communication and navigation equipment and other necessary equipment to the area.


On October 22, 2019, Russian and Turkish presidents Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting in Sochi adopted a memorandum on joint actions to resolve the situation in northeastern Syria. According to the document, Moscow sends military police and introduces them jointly with Syrian forces into areas bordering the security zone that Ankara has established. On November 1 of the same year, Russian and Turkish militaries began joint patrols east of the Euphrates River.


Meanwhile, in Raqqa province, according to the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties, more than two thousand ceasefire violations were recorded over the past two months.

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: AP Photo / Baderkhan Ahmad / TASS

Based on materials from RIA Novosti