The Assad visit to Moscow two days ago about which you have heard nothing: Iran’s Press TV
You may be forgiven for not having heard anything about the visit to Moscow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad, because neither Russian nor Syrian official sources published more than a photograph or two of the two leaders meeting and saying a few words to the press. You would know still less about what was discussed between them aside from some generalities. However, for Iran’s global broadcaster Press TV this was possibly a significant event for their neighborhood and they invited commentary, which I and one other invitee sought to provide.
https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/130226
The visit was explained officially as marking the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. That gave an aspect of normality to what was, in effect, anything but normal.
Indeed, the entire episode was carried out in the greatest secrecy. Assad flew in to Moscow late on Wednesday evening but the news of his visit was released only on Thursday morning, after he had already safely touched down in Damascus from his flight home. He is said to have spent two hours in direct conversation with President Putin, without any time lost to a formal dinner or other ceremonial distractions.
This was Assad’s first visit to Moscow since March 2023 and there surely was a lot for the two leaders to discuss face to face. As my fellow panelist on the Press TV program suggests, one item was surely the possibilities of arranging a three-way meeting with President Erdogan of Turkey, who is said to be ready to restore relations with Assad that were broken when Ankara chose to support the Islamist fighters against his government during the Syrian civil war back in 2015. And in theory that could take place when Putin makes his still unscheduled trip to Turkey later this summer.
However, I think the bigger subject on their agenda was Russian military assistance to Syria in the context of the present Israeli rampage in the neighborhood and most specifically with a view to improving Syria’s ineffective air defenses. On 3 June, Israel made yet another jet fighter attack near the Syrian city of Aleppo. Israeli attacks on Hezbollah arms caches in Syria and on supplies transiting Syria from Iran have been a regular occurrence going back to the civil war. But now, when there is a probability of Israel unleashing all out war on Hezbollah in Lebanon, the military supplies passing through Syria to Lebanon assume critical importance for the Axis of Resistance.
Let us remember that Russian military aid to Syria in 2015 and 2016 saved the Damascus government from being overwhelmed by Islamic fighters that were supported by the United States and its allies. However, Russia, which maintained a naval base in Syrian Tartus and an air base in Khmeimin, has never intervened to stop Israel attacks on Syria that Jerusalem claimed were purely for Israeli defense. Clearly the time has come to help the Syrians protect their air space and their sovereignty. A further context is that Russian-Israeli relations have cooled substantially over Israeli support for Ukraine. Moreover, a higher profile of Russia in Syria would be intended to offset the growing U.S. naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean, which Washington says is there to prevent an escalation of Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, but objectively speaking, more likely to have the opposite effect.
Finally, it may well be that Russia is about to provide Assad or pro-Iranian militia in Syria with its powerful missiles and drones to raise the effectiveness of their attacks on the illegal U.S. military bases in Syria. This would be entirely in line with Vladimir Putin’s recent threats to engage in the same kind of proxy warfare against the USA that Washington is pursuing in the Ukrainian war against Russia.
Clearly, a two-hour meeting between presidents could not go into the specifics of Russia’s greater assistance to Damascus in the coming days. But it prepares the way for their respective generals to work out the details of who does what now.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024
Transcription below by a reader
PressTV 0:00
And now joining us for the program is Julia Kassem, journalist and political analyst from Moscow; and Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst, joining us from Brussels. Hello, and I'd like to welcome you both to the program.
Julia, I guess we'll start with you. And the significance, your initial thoughts on the significance of this trip, what good could possibly result from it, and the fact that Recep Tayyip Erdogan just a couple weeks ago actually alluded to the fact that if the three men sit down together, there could possibly be a normalization of ties between Ankara and Damascus.
Julia Kassem 0:35 [technical deficiency compromises transcription]
Yeah, absolutely. That's one of the main agenda items in this meeting between President Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. That's countering a lot of the terrorist forces that have strongholds in the north, the east of Syria, many who have been financed or supported by Turkey. So part of the-- reaching some arrangement with Turkey between, you know, and normalizing relations between Turkey and Syria a bit involved, of course, some initiatives on Ankara's part to stop funding and supporting these terror groups and to end its occupation of northeast Syria. And, of course, Moscow is going to be the site where any agreement between that is to take place.
1:28
The other, of course, most important point discussed in the meeting between Putin and Assad is the Zionist entity's continued aggression. Right now, the backdrop of this meeting that kicked off yesterday in Moscow has been the ongoing visit by Netanyahu to the US to beg for more money to destroy and continue his genocide in Gaza, and to basically absolve himself of his war crimes, thinking that the US just, you know, basically doing his-- having a standing ovation in Congress and getting the unconditional support that he has been getting from the Americans throughout this genocide would continue to solve the problem for a time, that reached international condemnation. Of course right now his coming here insures that the US is building up the Zionist entity. And constant granting of immunity in an international and bilateral context is slowly eroding away.
2:48
First the meeting of the Palestinian factions to reach some kind of community consensus with China. And now, between the meeting of Hu and his active player in the Middle East and Bashar al-Assad. Those are the main two points which were concerning mainly the Middle East. And of course, Syria has been also facing constant Israeli bombardment, which has massacred Syrians as well. And the Golan remains occupied by the Golan-resisting forces, an ally of Syria. It has the Zionist occupying positions in the Golan. So, of course, without any kind of, you know, any kind of initiative towards stopping the Zionist threat, as they continue to pump weapons and strike them and inject, any kind of signature initiative. Now, countries like Russia and China are basically stepping up and showing that ----- eastward in terms of diplomacy, the U.S. has to have the final say in how conflict resolution can take place in the region. So, hopefully, yeah.
PressTV: 4:20
I didn't mean to cut you off, sorry, but let me just, like, Mr. Doctorow showed a lot of patience. Let me just bring him in the conversation. I'll come right back to you. Welcome to the conversation. Gilbert Doctorow, thanks for your patience. Hope you're doing well out there in Brussels. Your initial thoughts, if you could, please, on the sit-down between these two gentlemen and why you feel Vladimir Putin has this perception that Syria's health is vital for regional stability.
Gilbert Doctorow, PhD: 4:49
The meeting took place in the greatest secrecy. It was announced that it took place this morning, though the meeting actually took place last night. Mr. Assad flew into Moscow late at night. He spent two hours in a conversation with President Putin. They didn't have a dinner. There were no formalities about this. It was a working meeting, and then he flew out. And the the Russians and Syrians announced the visit only after Assad was back in Damascus.
5:21
So, one may assume that something quite important was going on. Perhaps it has to do with the relations with Turkey. Perhaps it has to do, I think more likely, with the military situation in the neighborhood. On the 3rd of June, Aleppo was struck by Israeli jets, and several people were killed. This type of attack by Israel has gone on repeatedly, without any effort by the Russians to help the Syrians defend their sovereignty. The Russian intervention in Syria in their civil war was enormously important. It saved the Assad government. It managed to crush the Islamic extremists who were receiving support from the United States and other Western powers. But it did not mean, it did not entail the security against Israel. The attacks by Israel on Syrian territory were primarily aimed at supplies coming from Iran into Syria, and coming into Syria and going further.
6:30
Well, where is further? Going to Lebanon, obviously. That was not so important in months past as it is today, because of the possibility of a full war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In this case, the transit of Iranian weapons and other support to Lebanon is of vital importance, and I would imagine that one of the subjects for discussion was how the Russians can help protect Syrian airspace and prevent further Israeli attacks on weaponry that's entering from Iran and is directed to Lebanon by way of Syria. That could be a subject.
7:18
Otherwise, they certainly have to consider the overall regional situation, the possibility of American intervention in support of Israel when Israel should decide to make an all-out strike on Lebanon, and to do to Beirut what it has done to Gaza, as Mr. Netanyahu has threatened. So these certainly were subjects for a two and a half hour discussion, I think mostly about the military situation in the neighborhood.
PressTV: 7:49
And Julia, thank you Gilbert, and Julia, how ironic is it that we never sit down and hear a conversation which refers to instability in the region without Washington and Tel Aviv being dragged into the forefront?
Kassem: 8:06
Yeah, absolutely. When it's, we were talking back then, and this was said by Foreign Minister Lavrov at meeting that the U.S. and the Zionist entity are constantly prolonging this conflict by continuing to pump weapons towards the Zionist entity, just like the U.S. is prolonging the conflict in Ukraine by continuing to supply them with weapons as well and blocking any chance at a resolution there. So, of course, I'd imagine the talks between Syria and Russia definitely would involve a conversation on air defenses, which Syria has been weak in being able to protect itself for years, as Israel has constantly struck at Syria, struck at what it considers Hezbollah targets in Syria, striking at supply routes, which also have included not only weapons, but also just Iranian food supplies and aids that have gotten, that have traveled through Syria and were going to Lebanon and to Syria in the past few years. So that's definitely an important agenda item that I imagine were discussed, but there wasn't--
PressTV: 9:32
Julia, I don't mean to cut you off. We only have about--
Kassem:
--points that were that were released yet in terms of like the entirety of what they were talking about. But that's exactly what what we can speculate. But given the timing that this conversation took place, of course, with Netanyahu's visit to U.S. Congress and the--
PressTV: 9:57
Mr. Gilbert-Doctorow, I mean, and you refer to Putin sitting down with possibly the Turkish leader and Assad. How would that look? We don't have much time left. You know, we kind of got into our news review quite late, so I want to apologize to both of you. And I have to cut you off, Julia.
But, Mr. Gilbert-Doctorow, in less than a minute and 20 seconds, sir, what are the dynamics of that, when you have two heavily sanctioned men sitting down with a NATO member and a possible enhancing of ties between the three of them. How would the dynamics of that look, and how would that impact the region and their friends and foes?
Doctorow: 10:36
Mr. Erdogan is sitting on two stools. And this is something that will have to be resolved in the near future if he wants to join the eurasian club that the Russians and the Chinese have set up in two organizations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS. In this case, I would say that Mr. Erdogan is tilting towards the east and is likely to cut some of his ties in the west. But that is something we'll have to watch closely. Nonetheless, it's understandable that he wants to re-establish relations with Syria if the neighborhood, the Arab League, is also considering warming relations with Syria, then Turkey should not be far behind. So this makes a lot of sense.
PressTV: 11:26
All right. Thank you both for joining us. Time has gotten the better of us, and I want to thank you both for your patience and being with us. Julia Kassem there, journalist and political analyst joining us from Moscow; and Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst, joining us from Brussels. And viewers, this brings us to the conclusion of this segment of your PressTV News Review program. Thanks for tuning in and goodbye for now.