AP, Moscow :
Russia’s parliament ratified a treaty with Syria on Friday that allows Russian troops to stay indefinitely in the Mideast country, a show of support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The development comes against the backdrop of a Syrian army onslaught on the rebel-held eastern part of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, which has been backed by Russian warplanes. Since the collapse of a US-Russia-brokered ceasefire last month, ties between Moscow and Washington have grown even more strained. The two powers support opposite sides in the war – Moscow has been a staunch Assad ally and the United States backs Syrian rebels trying to oust him.
Russia’s air campaign in Syria, launched a year ago, has reversed the tide of war and helped Assad’s forces regain some key ground. Moscow says the goal of its military operation is to assist the Syrian army in the fight against terrorism. It rejects accusations of targeting civilians. Lawmakers in the Kremlin-controlled State Duma voted unanimously to approve the deal, which allows Russia to keep its forces at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, Assad’s Alawite heartland, for as long as it wants.
The deal was signed in August 2015 in Damascus, a month before the Russian air campaign began. Russia also has a naval base in Syria’s port of Tartus, the only such outpost outside the former Soviet Union. That base is not covered by the treaty, and some lawmakers say it could be the subject of a separate deal. On Thursday, the Russian military warned the US against striking the Syrian army, stressing that Russian air defence weapons in Syria stand ready to fend off any attack.
Meanwhile, the United States declared Friday that the bombing of civilians in Aleppo could amount to a war crime, as the diplomatic battle over the Syrian war moved to the United Nations. US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear his mounting anger at the Russian-backed regime onslaught, declaring:
Russia’s parliament ratified a treaty with Syria on Friday that allows Russian troops to stay indefinitely in the Mideast country, a show of support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The development comes against the backdrop of a Syrian army onslaught on the rebel-held eastern part of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, which has been backed by Russian warplanes. Since the collapse of a US-Russia-brokered ceasefire last month, ties between Moscow and Washington have grown even more strained. The two powers support opposite sides in the war – Moscow has been a staunch Assad ally and the United States backs Syrian rebels trying to oust him.
Russia’s air campaign in Syria, launched a year ago, has reversed the tide of war and helped Assad’s forces regain some key ground. Moscow says the goal of its military operation is to assist the Syrian army in the fight against terrorism. It rejects accusations of targeting civilians. Lawmakers in the Kremlin-controlled State Duma voted unanimously to approve the deal, which allows Russia to keep its forces at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, Assad’s Alawite heartland, for as long as it wants.
The deal was signed in August 2015 in Damascus, a month before the Russian air campaign began. Russia also has a naval base in Syria’s port of Tartus, the only such outpost outside the former Soviet Union. That base is not covered by the treaty, and some lawmakers say it could be the subject of a separate deal. On Thursday, the Russian military warned the US against striking the Syrian army, stressing that Russian air defence weapons in Syria stand ready to fend off any attack.
Meanwhile, the United States declared Friday that the bombing of civilians in Aleppo could amount to a war crime, as the diplomatic battle over the Syrian war moved to the United Nations. US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear his mounting anger at the Russian-backed regime onslaught, declaring:
