Russia begins withdrawing troops stationed in Syria; likely to transfer some to Ukraine

As the ongoing war in Eastern Europe is at a critical juncture with Russia looking to 'liberate' the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, it has now decided to pull out its armed forces from Syria. An Israeli news outlet reported that Russia has commenced the process of withdrawing its troops from Syria, consolidating them at three airports before transferring some of them to Ukraine to have a stronger presence in the neighbouring country, which Kremlin is currently invading.

Russian Ministry of Defence suggests that 63,000 military troops were stationed in Syria between 2015 and 2018, with nearly half of them being officers. The abandoned Russian Federation airbases have been transferred to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military-political organisation, and Hezbollah, a Lebanese group. The Revolutionary Guards took over the Mahin base - which is one of Syria's largest and is home to 25 weapons and ammunition storage facilities. This comes as Ukraine has shown strong resistance and thwarted Russia's plans to lay siege in areas of strategic and geopolitical significance.

A Pentagon official earlier this week stated that the Russian army has made "limited" progress in the second phase of the conflict. The official also stated that the Russian troops have weak command, low morale, and bad logistics, which has caused the operation to fall behind schedule. During the onset of the ongoing war, Penatagan stated that Russia is recruiting Syrians and other foreign nationals to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Russia wants to take over teh Donbas region

It is pertinent to mention here that Russia's main objective is to completely take over the Donbas region, which is Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). The media reports suggest that the referendums on the DPR and LPR's foray into Russia, which had been slated for mid-May, have also been postponed at least until the army has control of their territories within the Ukrainian republics' borders. At a meeting with the governors last week, deputy head of the Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko warned not to have a false sense of expectations.

In the meantime, Russia continues to attack the port city of Mariupol, which is in the Donbas region where a number of civilians are stranded. The Russian Federation has announced that the Victory Day Parade, scheduled for May 9, has been cancelled in Mariupol.

Image: AP