At a time were rumors on disputes flood the Moscow-Tehran relationship, concerning military operations in Syria, Russian and Iranian ministers of defense convene in Tehran Today to confer on Syrian affairs and field developments regarding the performance of Russian forces.
Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) revealed that after nine months of Russian interference in Syria, the Tehran meeting will chiefly discuss operations in Syria; especially the efforts of Russian air power. Battlefield developments in Iraq will be discussed as well.
The Iranian ministry of defense said that the meeting will title “Russian counterterrorism in Syria”. IRNA mentioned that the meeting will be held between Russian, Iranian, Damascus and Baghdad based committees for counterterrorism. The news agency said nothing on Iraqi contribution to the meeting, despite Iraq being cited among topics set up for discussions.
On the other hand, Iranian official media outlet for the Iran ministry of defense “Defa press” said that Russian minister of defense Sergei Shoigu and Syrian regime’s Fahd Jassem al-Freij will visit Tehran this Thursday after receiving an invitation by their peer Iranian Hossein Dehghan. The meeting is expected to discuss the regional latest military revelations.
This is considered Russian Shoygu’s second visit to Tehran in 2016, after his February visit when Iran announced that Shoygu and Dehghan discussing Russian-Iranian military cooperation.
On the other hand IRNA said that the Russian, Iranian and Syrian meeting will illustrate accomplishments reached, since Russia’s interference in September, 2015 in the regime-opposition clashes in Syria.
Reports reiterated rumored dispute between Russian and Iranian military administration concerning targets in Syria. Media outlets circulated that Soleimani visited Moscow at least twice after the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Russia’s partial withdrawal of forces last March.
Noteworthy, large numbers of Iranian forces deployed in Syria were lost with the kick-off of the Russian campaign led from the skies in the past few months.
Two weeks ago Iranian media critiqued Russian slacking in Syria after the reported death of Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC, deployed Aleppo and Khan Touman, troops piled up in numbers.
aawsat.com
