Russia pulls second batch of warplanes from Syria; UN envoy says decision ‘significant’
Moscow’s decision came as the warring parties in the five-year Syrian war resumed a second round of peace talks in Geneva on Monday that have been described as the last chance to avert greater bloodshed, in a war in which more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 11 million displaced.
"Another group of Russian aircraft took off from the airbase in Khmeimim heading to places of permanent deployment on the territory of the Russian Federation," according to a military statement in Moscow.
Russia Today (RT), Moscow’s official news outlet, said the new batch of planes leaving the airbase in Syria’s Latakia province included Su-25 fighter jets and the giant Il-76 cargo planes.
“The first Russian forces planes and pilots left Syria on Tuesday, following the withdrawal order from President Vladimir Putin. They received a hero’s welcome at home,” RT said.
The Kremlin announced on Monday that Russia was pulling out the major portion of its air forces from Syria because they had “fulfilled the bulk of their original objectives.”
“This brings to an end the anti-terror operation launched on September 30, 2015. Putin explained that the operation’s objectives have been generally achieved,” RT reported.
Russia stepped into the Syria war in late September in support of President Bashar al-Assad, bombing the warring factions fighting to oust him, as well as air raids against the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
In Geneva Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy at the peace talks who is trying to bring an end to the conflict, said that the Russian withdrawal is a “significant development.”
“It is not a coincidence, at least we should not consider as a coincidence, that the decision took place in the very beginning of intra-Syria talks,” he told reporters in Geneva, following a meeting with opposition representatives.
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via Defense News