Putin: Russia has withdrawn four thousand Iranian forces from Syria

In his first public statement regarding the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that his country has withdrawn "four thousand combat forces" of the Islamic Republic of Iran from Syria, asserting that Assad's fall does not signify "Russia's defeat." On Thursday, December 20, during an annual press conference held at the end of the calendar year, he described attempts to "blame" Russia for events in Syria as "incorrect." According to him, Russia withdrew the four thousand Iranian military forces from Syria "at Tehran's request." Putin added that the Iranians had previously asked for assistance in "transferring their units to Syria, and this time they requested to withdraw them." This is the first time such a figure regarding the presence of Iranian military forces in Syria has been published until the last days of Assad's regime. Throughout the 13 years of the Syrian civil war, the Islamic Republic of Iran had only claimed the presence of a small number of its "military advisors" based on a military agreement with Syria, and in the final days of Assad's regime, it had also stated that it had evacuated a number of "lost pilgrims" from Syria. Has the Islamic Republic accepted the fall of Bashar al-Assad? Since 2015, in the fourth year of the Syrian civil war, Russia intervened in the conflict to provide practical assistance to the survival of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, and even in the last days when Syrian rebels moved from Idlib towards Damascus, Russia continued to bomb Assad's opponents. In his press conference, Putin stated that his country entered Syria to prevent it from becoming a "terrorist region" like Afghanistan and has "generally achieved its goal." A few days after Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, the Kremlin announced that Vladimir Putin had granted him and his family asylum. Putin mentioned in the press conference that he has not yet met with Bashar al-Assad but intends to meet with him "soon" to inquire about the fate of the missing American journalist in Syria, as Assad "certainly" has information about it. Putin's reference was to Austin Tice, who disappeared in Syria 12 years ago, and the U.S. has resumed efforts to find this citizen after the collapse of Assad's regime. In a statement published eight days after leaving his country, Assad claimed he did not intend to flee or "betray" his homeland and had gone from Damascus to the Russian military base in Hmeimim in the west of the country, where he saw that the Syrian army had abandoned all its positions. When the Russian base was "attacked by drones," he received orders from Moscow to evacuate the base, and the Russians "also evacuated him." Vladimir Putin stated in the press conference that his country wishes to keep the two Russian air and naval bases in Syria operational and is "eager" for the (newly empowered) rebels to "guarantee" the security of these two bases, but it still needs to assess how much it needs these bases in the new situation. Ahmad al-Shar'a, known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the commander of the "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham," a major group whose forces caused the fall of the 54-year rule of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad within 11 days, has shown a green light to maintain relations with Russia, despite Moscow's active support for Bashar al-Assad. The Tartus naval base and the Hmeimim airbase are the only Russian military bases outside the territories once known as the Soviet Union and thus play a key role in Russia's military activities in Africa and the Middle East. Putin stated that to maintain these two bases, Russia has established relations with "all those who control the situation, and with all the countries in the region, most of which have expressed interest in continuing the presence of our military bases there." Putin reiterated his claims about Ukraine. Vladimir Putin, whose country has attacked Ukraine for two years and ten months and annexed vast areas of four Ukrainian provinces, claimed in the Moscow press conference that Russia "has the power and means to restore all its historical territories." He stated that the annexation of these regions to Russia is "progressing well and these territories have become self-sufficient." According to Putin, his country will "definitely" expel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region in Russia as well. The remarks of the Russian president come as Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, has traveled to Brussels on Wednesday, December 20, for discussions with the NATO Secretary-General and meetings with senior European officials. However, the statements of the Russian president in his press conference in Moscow indicated that there is no rush to end the war in Ukraine. He said, "We are gaining control over more territory every day and moving forward." He emphasized the use of a new type of Russian missile, the Oreshnik, which carries a non-nuclear warhead but is faster and has a longer range, and provocatively suggested that if Western experts claim they can shoot it down, they should designate a target for destruction; "for example, in Kyiv," and bring all their air and missile defense capabilities there, and "we are also ready to test our missile there." Putin's statements regarding the "completely new" missile capability of Russia come at a time when Israel has destroyed four Russian S-300 air defense systems deployed in Iran during its recent military operations, and Israeli security officials told their media that this was a "disgrace" for Russia, and no country in the world would be eager to purchase these Russian systems anymore. Putin expressed readiness to meet with Donald Trump in his press conference but stated that he has not spoken to him for four years and has no news of a new plan for a meeting in the near future, but has "suggestions" if they meet. The elected president emphasized this week that he was shaken by seeing images of many casualties in the Russia-Ukraine war and that this war must end. The Russian president referred to the rising prices of goods and services in his country as a result of the war and acknowledged the existence of problems caused by inflation, but stated that the increase in prices is a consequence of sanctions, although "Russian officials" have also made mistakes. Nevertheless, he claimed that the Russian economy has grown by 8% in the last two years. Military spending in Russia has reached its highest level since the Soviet era due to the war in Ukraine this year, and Moscow plans to increase this spending to $130 billion in the coming year, equivalent to over 6% of the country's GDP.