Baladi News – Aleppo (Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa)
Russian deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said on Thursday that Russia wants “long term” ceasefire in Aleppo city, according to Reuters quoting a Russian media agency. Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation declared that starting from Thursday, a two-day “system of calm” would be introduced in the city , as a Moscow initiative, adding that Darayya ceasefire in Damascus countryside is still effective and that it is still considerably maintained.
In his first new parliament speech, Bashar al-Assad, President of the regime, vowed that “each inch of Syria will be regained”, indicating that “Aleppo will be the grave where the dreams of this butcher will be buried,” referring to the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He added, “As we liberated Tadmur [Palmyra] and before it many areas, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their hands. Our only option is victory, otherwise Syria will not survive,”
However, the situation on the ground tells another story. Assad’s regime, supported by the Russians and Iranians, could not advance a single inch, as all its attempts to recapture al-Mallah as well as Castello road north of Aleppo failed, and dozens of its soldiers as well as 5 Iranian commanders were killed when the rebels destroyed its operations room on Tallat Yousef hill.
Meanwhile in Aleppo southern countryside, heavy casualties were inflicted on Iran by Jaysh al-Fatah that could liberate several villages despite the Russian heavy air strikes.
Russia itself was not safe in Aleppo. The rebels seized one of the most advanced Russian tanks (T90) while regaining several points on al-Mallah frontline in Aleppo northern countryside.
These events caused the defence ministers of the Syrian regime, Iran, and Russia to meet in the Iranian capital of Tehran in order to study the reasons of military defeats of the Iranian Revolution Guard in Aleppo southern countryside over the past weeks. In a previous statement for Baladi News, major “Tawfiq Abdul Wahhab”, said that the “meeting of the axis of evil in the Iranian Capital is attributed to the setbacks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, despite the heavy Russian bombardment against Aleppo countryside, which did not prevent the killing of dozens of officers and soldiers of this coalition at the hands of Jaysh al-Fatah.”
The major added that “the meeting of the sectarian mafia regimes was encouraged by the international community through its unjustified silence about the violations that killed a thousand hundreds and displaced millions over past years.”