Russia retreats from Syria

[criptix]

Funny that russian bombs were one of the causes for the refugee wave.
I really dont understand why putin did that.

Everybody is able to google some newspaper headlines, compare the dates and find out that you're lying deliberately. Go and try to find fools elsewhere, please.

 
I dont even know what to say.

Fighting wars is expensive and if chaos breaks loose even more refugees will flood Europe. Win-win for Mr. Putin.

Funny that russian bombs were one of the causes for the refugee wave.

I really dont understand why putin did that. There must have been something big behind the curtains for that decision to be made.
Russian troops in syria was putins ace not sure why he is giving it up.

Russians achieved their tactical and strategic goals: secured their bases over there, secured the survival of their ally in the future (maybe not Assad himself but someone Russia friendly), forced the "moderate opposition" to (at least temporarily) turn against the saudi/turkey/us backed islamists, so they've gained a lot of bargaining chips.
I think behind the scenes they've also made some new friendships with the syrian and iraqi kurds, so a pipeline from Iran to the Mediterranean sea through friendly kurdish held territories is possible again and now there's a possible supply route to PKK if the turks would try to oppose that.
Now they are partially pulling out with a military and diplomatic victory in their pocket. It appears unlike the US, Russians have learned their lessons in Afghanistan about why not good to be bogged down in local turf wars and such unstable situations. BTW they can go back in days if needed.

Interesting theory. I will do some research in that direction.

Overall it was quite surprising and sudden.

[Tzupy]

Russia retreats from Syria? Yeah right, like they retreated from Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine?
This is just a tactic, meant to get more long-term concessions from Assad. To show him that he can be left alone again, and he'll sign whatever Putin wants.

[magnific61]

Russia retreats from Syria? Yeah right, like they retreated from Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine?
This is just a tactic, meant to get more long-term concessions from Assad. To show him that he can be left alone again, and he'll sign whatever Putin wants.

Correct!  That is a tactical retreat and only land forces retreat. Air and naval forces will stay. Anyway land forces out of strikes. Russia can't venture land operations in Syria at the least in curent situation. Because Kremlin knows that they will give big loss

[Iseecookies]

Was there something about peace talks coming up on Monday or last Monday that helped Russia back out of this mess.
Point for them was made and it makes sense to back off with so many groups jockeying for position.

[Nemo1024]

Funny that russian bombs were one of the causes for the refugee wave.
I really dont understand why putin did that.

Everybody is able to google some newspaper headlines, compare the dates and find out that you're lying deliberately. Go and try to find fools elsewhere, please.

 
I dont even know what to say.

That you don't pay attention to the facts?

The start of the refugee flood from Turkey, when Turkey opened the floodgates and released all those people they were accumulating over the course of 2-3 years: June-July 2015, and the critical mass was reached by the beginning of September. Here is a BBC article from the 4th of September:

http://www.bbc.com/russian/international/2015/09/150904_eu_migrant_crisis_hungary

The start of the Russian operation in Syria: 30th of September 2015.

The American coordinators, who organised and financed the flood of "refugees" missed with their operation by a few months.

Fragment from:
http://stanislavs.org/apocalypse-of-europespecial-report-from-the-flooded-by-refugees-austria/

Spreading the gifted blankets, people lay down to rest on the pavement. Munich slows down with a reply today: the refugee centres there are already over-crowded, they just do not know what to do. “We were promised that we’d be in Germany today, – complains Khamis, a 44-year-old engineer from Damascus. – But now it turns out that the Germans were not prepared to accept more people. What to do? We sit on each other’s heads.” Meanwhile, in the course of the conversation an interesting thing turns up. Khamis has lived in the camp “for displaced persons” in Turkey (Mardin province) for two years and did not think about Europe: for the smugglers took 10 000 dollars per person for transport by sea to Greece, while he had nowhere near that kind of money. So, in July there came some unidentified recruiters to their camp – they promised free shipping to Europe. One had to agree to the offer quickly and to go right away. “I think it is very necessary for someone that Europe is drowned with refugees – said Khamis. – But honestly, I do not want to go into details. I’m just happy that I’m far away from war.”

– Many Europeans probably wonder: The war in Libya and Syria began five years ago, and in Iraq as far back as in 2003, so why do hundreds of thousands of people poured into the EU now? – says political consultant of the Lebanese TV channel “Al-Manar” Mohammed Aswad. – Turkey kept the Syrians behind barbed wire, their passports were confiscated, they were not allowed to leave the camps. And suddenly there come recruiters, offering a free ride into Europe. Why such selflessness? Turkey, the closest US ally, suddenly opens the door, releasing a crowd of fugitives who freely enter the EU. Now the question is: Who benefits? The main dividends are received by the United States. The tide of migrants means huge costs for the weak EU economy, which will lead to a drop in the Euro, worsening crime situation in Europe. As a result, the EU has no resources to bother with the United States, and Washington will be able to smoothly carry out its plans for the control of oil sources in the Middle East in order to bring the price of oil to $10 per barrel.

[Nemo1024]

Russia retreats from Syria? Yeah right, like they retreated from Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine?
This is just a tactic, meant to get more long-term concessions from Assad. To show him that he can be left alone again, and he'll sign whatever Putin wants.

Russia cannot by definition retreat from Moldova - the UN-mandated peacekeeping forces were put there to stop the genocide of the Russian population of the Pridnestrovie.

Russia cannot by definition retreat from Georgia - it's not in Georgia. When Georgia attacked and killd Russian peacekeepers and Ossetian civilians, Russia responded and drove invading Georgian forces back for a few days, then retreated. The relations between Russia and Georgia are quite ok now, when the criminal Saakashvili, wanted by Gerogia, went on the run (and is foverning Odessa now)

Russia cannot by definition retreat from Ukraine, because a) Russian forces are not in Ukraine; b) Ukraine is Novorossia, Malirossia and Galicia. Of the three, the first two are de-facto Russia (at least were, until 1918-1922, when Lenin created the Ukraine of today, for which Ukrainians topple his monuments).

[Tzupy]

Russia retreats from Syria? Yeah right, like they retreated from Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine?
This is just a tactic, meant to get more long-term concessions from Assad. To show him that he can be left alone again, and he'll sign whatever Putin wants.

Russia cannot by definition retreat from Moldova - the UN-mandated peacekeeping forces were put there to stop the genocide of the Russian population of the Pridnestrovie.

Russia cannot by definition retreat from Georgia - it's not in Georgia. When Georgia attacked and killd Russian peacekeepers and Ossetian civilians, Russia responded and drove invading Georgian forces back for a few days, then retreated. The relations between Russia and Georgia are quite ok now, when the criminal Saakashvili, wanted by Gerogia, went on the run (and is foverning Odessa now)

Russia cannot by definition retreat from Ukraine, because a) Russian forces are not in Ukraine; b) Ukraine is Novorossia, Malirossia and Galicia. Of the three, the first two are de-facto Russia (at least were, until 1918-1922, when Lenin created the Ukraine of today, for which Ukrainians topple his monuments).

This is the kind of rhetoric for which most of Russia's neighbors hate you. Keep it like this, and no one will come to your aid when China will take Siberia.

In the same note, Russia cannot by definition retreat from Syria - it's not in Syria. Tartus and Latakia are now Russian territory, right?

[designerusa]

Russian President Putin ordered that Russian Forces will retreat from Syria tomorrow Kremlin declared.

i guess russia dont see any profit being in syria anymore.. russia started a war there and destroyed all the good things in syria then, leave the country to its fate.. this is the brutal truth behind this decision..

[trenchflaint]

Its a good thing that russia has finally withdraw its army and world war III wont happen.
If russia didnt back up surely thats the start of the end of the world.

[clickerz]

Its a good thing that russia has finally withdraw its army and world war III wont happen.
If russia didnt back up surely thats the start of the end of the world.

Yes it is a welcome development to the tensions in Syria. As we know,middle east home to millions of migrant workers from Philippines,India,Bangladesh,Pakistan etc that would be displaced if war happens.

[Nemo1024]

I think I have an explanation for the surprise the West expresses regarding Russian withdrawal (including this thread). The West measures Russian actions with the same stock as those of USA. And what does US usually do? Move into a country uninvited, wreck havoc and stay as an occupational force (cases in point: Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia).

Russia came invited, achieved the goals set (break the back of the head-choppers, remove the threat of said head-choppers infiltrating into Russia, allow the Syrian Army to take control of the situation, prevent disintegration of Syria, and allow diplomacy to take over), and now Russia can pull back. Also Russia does not need to be quagmired in the conflict, like it did with Taliban (later renamed into Al-Quaeda and then into ISIS) in Afghanistan in the 80s - a lesson was learned. Besides, Russia retains its only military base at the foreign shores (USA has about 800, and actually managed to build 2 new in Syria).

I actually wrote about it on the 2nd of March here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1383318.msg14073653#msg14073653

[saddampbuh]

they have achieved what they set out to achieve

[alyssa85]

I think the Russians were bleeding money. The oil price being below $40 is putting a lot of stress on them and Putin has announced cuts to public spending. Very had to cut spending when you are wasting money on a war.

[galdur]

The war is won for all practical purposes. This means reduced forces obviously.

HMEIMIM, Syria, March 15 (TASS) - Russia’s aviation group in Syria will continue delivering strikes on facilities of terrorists, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov said on Tuesday.

"Certain positive results have been reached. A real chance has emerged to bring an end to the long-time conflict and violence. However, it is early to speak about the victory over terrorism now," Pankov said.

"Russia’s aviation group has the task to continue delivering strikes on the facilities of terrorists," he told an event marking the accomplishment of tasks in Syria by Russian forces.


...

Pankov reminded that the ceasefire, which came into effect in Syria on February 27, is not applied to the Islamic State and Jabhat an-Nusra "or other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council."

[galdur]

Beirut (AFP) - Russian helicopters pounded jihadist positions around the ancient city of Palmyra on Tuesday as Syrian troops pressed a ground advance, a monitoring group said.

"Russian helicopters and warplanes, that are likely Russian, are bombarding Islamic State group positions near Palmyra," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"These strikes have allowed regime troops to advance, and they are now four kilometres (2.5 miles) south and west of Palmyra," he told AFP.

The strikes came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the pullout of the "main part" of his forces from the war-torn country.

[xht]

Putin-pooty declare victory and ran home with his tail between his legs, He learned this from Nixon's 'secret plan' for victory in Vietnam.

[galdur]

Putin-pooty declare victory and ran home with his tail between his legs, He learned this from Nixon's 'secret plan' for victory in Vietnam.

I wonder which military geniuses yokels like you have been voting into office where you are. I bet they´ve not been dicking around in endless wars forever. 

[galdur]

Putin: Russia may deploy forces back to Syria ‘in mere hours’ if necessary

Published time: 17 Mar, 2016 10:48
Edited time: 17 Mar, 2016 11:18

https://www.rt.com/news/335949-putin-russia-op-syria/

[vodanh]

With Russia leaving now, I think it seals in the territories of most parties involved. Western Kurdistan became a country today (says them) while the moderate rebels and ISIS holds similar areas that they held one year ago. The disintegration of Syria is a year away.

[SyGambler]

I think there is an agreement going on , hopefully everything will end soon
the US is giving more soft speeches so I guess thing should be clear in the coming months ,I mean come on it's been more than 5 years
also Russia didn't retreat completely , their Jets are still doing strikes