Russian defense minister in Tehran for talks on Syria

The Russia and Syrian defense ministers traveled to Tehran for meeting with their Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehqan in order to fine-tune their measures in the fight on Takfiri terrorists in Syria.

And Russia “ostensibly has the permission of the Syrian government to fly”.

Shoigu said fighting terrorism is an worldwide duty which all countries should work together to fulfill in order to have a more secure world. He also accused the United States and Israel of patronizing terrorism in the troubled Middle East region.

The Syrian defense minister, in turn, thanked the Iranian nation and government for standing by the Syrians in their struggles against terrorism.

During the trilateral talks, Dehqan reiterated Iran’s support for talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups.

However, he added that such anti-terror battles must go hand in hand with efforts on the diplomatic front with the aim of setting the stage for the Syrian nation to decide its own political future in peace. Such meetings would not take place in Geneva, and he would not be directly involved, although members of his team would be moving to various locations in order to have technical discussions with “anyone who has been mentioned” in Security Council resolution 2254, or anyone who was “usefully contributing” to preparing the talks, the Special Envoy said.

“We agree to a guaranteed ceasefire that doesn’t lead to the strengthening of terrorists in this country”, Dehqan noted.

He added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in Vienna when the ISSG made the call in May for the delivery of humanitarian aid by air if ground access was not available.

The Syrian army’s assault on the Daesh stronghold has been supplemented by unrelenting Russian airstrikes in the eastern areas of Hama province, bordering Raqqa.

Raqqa is Daesh’s de facto capital, and the province has been a major base of operations for the group.

Syria has given approval for aid convoys to reach all of the country’s besieged areas, according to the UN.

Has the Kremlin now decided its interests can only be achieved if it realigns itself with the objectives of the Syrian and Iranian leadership – which is “decisive” military action to tip that balance enough to declare victory?