Moscow Speeds up Training of Syrian Regime Forces

A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)
A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)
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Moscow Speeds up Training of Syrian Regime Forces

A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)
A picture taken during a guided tour with the Russian army shows Syrian elite soldiers taking part in an instruction session with Russian military trainers, on September 24, 2019, at an army base in Yafour, some 30 kilometers west of Damascus. (Maxime POPOV / AFP)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Samsar discussed Friday the situation in Syria and Libya, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Bogdanov and Samsar met in Moscow at the ambassador’s initiative and tackled the need to work out mutually acceptable solutions to the crises in both Damascus and Tripoli.

"They reaffirmed the need to find mutually acceptable solutions to speed up the peace process in Syria and Libya, based on the existing international laws and UN Security Council resolutions," the ministry’s statement read.

The meeting coincided with reports published by TV channel Zvezda, which is controlled by Russia's defense ministry, saying that Russian military officials are speeding up the training of Syrian regime forces on the use of artillery techniques.

The station said that in the past few days, the Russians carried out the fourth training of regime forces this month.

The channel noted that Russian military experts trained the Syrian Army’s artillery battalion in the ranks of the Fifth Brigade, on the use of radars and artillery detectors.

Other Russian media outlets said that Moscow benefited from the calm that prevailed in the past weeks on the Syrian fronts to train the regime troops.

Last Thursday, the Russian experts conducted trainings on victim rescue exercises, including the evacuation of injured people from a remote mountain site.

During the past two weeks, Russia also trained regime forces on the use of shoulder-mounted missiles and camouflage using smoke bombs.

The situation in Syria was mainly discussed during talks held Thursday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.

Following the meeting, Lavrov said, “Concerning Syria, we and Saudi Arabia have much in common in our approaches to the key problems of settlement. Like our Saudi friends, we want the Syrians to determine their own approaches to national development and decide their destiny without outside interference. This also applies to the assessment of the presence of foreign troops on Syrian territory.”

For his part, the Saudi Minister said Tehran’s proxy militias were obstructing a solution for the war in Syria.



Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Syria

Syrians lift placards as they demonstrate in the central Karama Square of the southern city of Sweida on February 25, 2025, in rejection of statements made by Israel's premier on the weekend. (AFP)
Syrians lift placards as they demonstrate in the central Karama Square of the southern city of Sweida on February 25, 2025, in rejection of statements made by Israel's premier on the weekend. (AFP)
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Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Syria

Syrians lift placards as they demonstrate in the central Karama Square of the southern city of Sweida on February 25, 2025, in rejection of statements made by Israel's premier on the weekend. (AFP)
Syrians lift placards as they demonstrate in the central Karama Square of the southern city of Sweida on February 25, 2025, in rejection of statements made by Israel's premier on the weekend. (AFP)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned on Wednesday the Israeli airstrikes and ground incursions in Syria as a “a reckless provocation and an escalation that seizes the opportunity of political transition in Syria to establish an illegal and illegitimate reality.”

He called for the international community “to take clear positions to condemn this unjustified aggression that aims to ignite tension in the region and put obstacles in the way of political transition in Syria.”

Since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Israel has regularly launched airstrike on military sites in Syria and Israeli forces moved into territory in southern Syria adjacent to the Israel-occupied Golan Heights and have made clear they plan to stay indefinitely, citing security concerns.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel won’t allow Syria’s new army to “enter the area south of Damascus.”

There has been no official response from the Syrian interim government, led by members of the former opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, to Netanyahu’s comments, but Syrian officials have called for Israel to withdraw from the territory it has seized since Assad’s fall.