Over 250,000 dead and roughly 12 million people who have left the country -
\nthis is the still provisional record of the situation in Syria. A situation
\nthat seems to grow more intricate by the day, with an impact on regional and
\nEuropean security. A war zone for the rebels who have opposed the regime in
\nDamascus, such as Islamic State or
\nAl-Qaeda fundamentalists, but also the more moderate factions, and the forces
\nloyal to Bashar al-Assad, Syria, as a theater of military operations, got even
\nmore complicated the moment Moscow gave a favorable answer to Syrian leader’
\ncall for Russia to initiate air strikes in its support. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An important actor in the conflict, Washington
\nsupports the rebels who oppose Bashar Al-Assad, having at the same time a
\ncommon enemy with the Damascus regime: the Jihadists of the self-proclaimed
\nIslamic State and the Al-Qaeda militias in the region. Despite being at
\nloggerheads with one another as regards their stance on Syria, Moscow and
\nWashington have nonetheless managed to reach an agreement, with the aim of
\navoiding unwanted clashes on the Syrian front. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With details on the Syrian
\nconflict, here is Radio Romania’s Correspondent to Moscow Alexandru Beleavschi. The document is called ‘The Memorandum of
\nMutual Understanding between the Defense Ministries of Russia and the United
\nStates on preventing incidents and providing for aviation flights during
\noperations in Syria’. According to the Russian deputy defense
\nminister Anatoli Antonov, the document regulates the actions of manned and unmanned aircraft in the airspace
\nabove Syria and contains a set of rules and limitations aimed at preventing
\nincidents between the air forces of Russia and the US. The Russian Defense
\nMinistry has also stated that the regulations
\nstipulated in the memorandum also apply to pilots of countries other
\nthan the United States, but which are also part of the anti-ISIS coalition. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Russian Defense Ministry says that Russia’s military is acting in Syria at the request
\nof the Syrian legitimate authorities, but the US-led coalition is not present
\nthere on a legal basis. Russia’s military
\noperation in Syria has become more intense
\nas soon as the Syrian army started its ground offensive. According
\nto the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian air forces have destroyed hundreds of
\nISIS sites, as well as positions held by other terrorist organizations, which
\nare now riddled with confusion and defection. The success the Syrian army has
\nscored on the ground is rather insignificant in the cities, where the Russian
\nair forces have not taken action, harboring Islamist strongholds, benefiting
\nfrom developed underground communications networks. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But how is the situation in
\nSyria viewed in Washington? With details on that, here is Radio Romania’s
\ncorrespondent to Washington Doina Saiciuc: The US
\nadministration is trying to re-launch peace talks for Syria with Russia,
\nTurkey, Saudi Arabia and potentially, even with Iran, talks that could lead to
\na complete cessation of the fight between president Assad’s army and the
\nmoderate opposition forces, enabling all parties involved to focus on the
\ndefeat of Islamic State militants. At the State Department, spokesman John
\nKirby emphasized that the agreement memorandum jointly signed by the US Defense
\nDepartment and the Russian Defense Ministry on the rules of safe navigation in
\nthe Syrian airspace for the coalition pilots did not change the United States’
\nstated objective regarding a political transition in Syria, which would
\ntranslate into president Assad’s leaving power.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According
\nto John Kirby, if we take a look at the targets Russia has been hitting, and the support given to the Syrian
\ngovernment on the ground, the only possible conclusion is that Russia intends
\nto support the Assad regime, which will only escalate the conflict, will ignite
\nsectarian tensions, thus leading up to more extremism there or elsewhere in the
\nregion. The signing of the memorandum, which is something important for the
\nsafety of the pilots, does nothing to appease the US’s concern regarding
\nRussia’s military action in Syria, John Kirby also said. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nanother move, the White House has criticized Russia after the rare visit
\npresident Bashar Al-Assad has paid to Moscow this week, for a meeting with
\npresident Vladimir Putin. We
\nview the red carpet welcome for Assad, who has used chemical weapons against
\nhis own people, at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political
\ntransition in Syria, White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters.
\nBucharest believes that peace in Syria can only be re-established through
\ndialogue. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here is Romania’s president Klaus Johannis: The
\nfact that as of late Russia has got involved in Syria militarily does not
\nprovide a solution to the crisis, it only renders the situation more
\ncomplicated. This is Romania’s official standpoint and it is this standpoint
\nthat we intend to make known
\neverywhere. It is not a merely theoretical point. Romania is one of the very
\nfew countries left that has still kept its staff at the Embassy in Damascus. We
\nare not one of the great actors, yet because we are there, we can act as
\nfacilitators in talks that can lead to peace in the region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Some of the pundits
\nview Russia’s intervention in Syria as
\nan attempt from Moscow to change the strategic landscape in the Middle East,
\nwith Vladimir Putin taking advantage of
\nthe US administration’s weak reaction, in order to restore the role
\nRussia once had in the region in the
\n1970s, <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over 250,000 dead and 12 million people leaving the country; this is the still provisional record of the situation in Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":155274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[44490,44489,28945,44488,29281,28959],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-155273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-eric-schultz","tag-john-kirby","tag-klaus-iohannis","tag-memorandum-of-mutual-understanding-between-the-defense-ministries-of-russia-and-the-us","tag-syria","tag-vladimir-putin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n