According to Russia’s defense ministry, Syrian special forces soldiers have completed over 1,500 parachute jumps, spanning the Mediterranean Sea, Aleppo, and Latakia provinces, as part of training exercises utilizing Russian military aircraft.
The ministry released video footage depicting groups of Syrian troops exiting Russian planes and helicopters, highlighting what it referred to as the Syrian Arab Army’s inaugural nighttime mass landing from an IL-76 aircraft.
The defense ministry stated, “Members of the Russian group of forces in Syria oversaw the execution of a comprehensive training exercise involving Syrian special forces units.”
It’s worth noting that Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow’s intervention, alongside Iran, played a pivotal role in shifting the balance in favor of Assad during the protracted conflict in Syria, which has persisted for over a decade.
Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that the US is “creating a Kurdish quasi-state” in Syria to smuggle oil and grain.
Lavrov talked about the work that Russia, Turkey, and Iran are carrying out within the framework of the Astana format to promote Syrian settlement. This came during a news conference in Moscow with his Tunisian counterpart, Nabil Ammar.
“We emphasized the continuing serious problems in the economy of the Syrian Arab Republic due to total illegitimate Western sanctions, and also because the US, creating a Kurdish quasi-state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, are smuggling the Syrian oil and the Syrian grain,” he said.
Lavrov underlined that he discussed the Palestinian-Israeli settlement with Ammar. He also indicated that without finding a solution to the conflict, it will be difficult to achieve “long-term improvement of the situation in the entire Middle East region.”
