A car parades during a demonstration in support of Russia's war in Ukraine, in February 2022, in Damascus, Syria. (Credit: AFP)
Russia appears to be displaying relative restraint since the start of the blitzkrieg led by the jihadist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other rebel factions in Syria.While Moscow has been participating in the defense of Bashar al-Assad's regime since 2015, the attacks it has carried out in Idlib and Aleppo have so far failed to thwart the large-scale operation of opposition groups.Last Friday, on the sidelines of the ‘liberation’ of the country's second-largest city, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov merely called on the Syrian authorities to “rapidly restore order in this region.”Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a Russian navy ship was seen leaving the port of Tartus, as Moscow was forced to evacuate the Kuweires air base near Aleppo.These developments raise questions about the Kremlin's aims in Syria.Caught off guardOnce this had...
Russia appears to be displaying relative restraint since the start of the blitzkrieg led by the jihadist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other rebel factions in Syria.While Moscow has been participating in the defense of Bashar al-Assad's regime since 2015, the attacks it has carried out in Idlib and Aleppo have so far failed to thwart the large-scale operation of opposition groups.Last Friday, on the sidelines of the ‘liberation’ of the country's second-largest city, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov merely called on the Syrian authorities to “rapidly restore order in this region.”Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a Russian navy ship was seen leaving the port of Tartus, as Moscow was forced to evacuate the Kuweires air base near Aleppo.These developments raise questions about the Kremlin's aims in Syria.Caught off guardOnce this...