Can’t compel Iran to leave Syria: Russia
‘Houthi’ missiles
JERUSALEM, July 31, (Agencies): Russia cannot compel Iranian forces to quit Syria, Moscow’s ambassador to Tel Aviv said on Monday, rebuffing Israel’s long-standing demand that it should work to ensure their total withdrawal from the country.
Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov said Moscow could equally do nothing to prevent Israeli military strikes against Iranian forces in Syria, which along with Russia and Tehran-backed Lebanese militias are supporting President Bashar al-Assad in combating rebel fighters.
With Assad now in almost complete control of southwestern areas abutting the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, Viktorov told Israel’s Channel 10 television in an interview that only Syrian army troops should be deployed there.
Last week an Israeli official said Russia had offered to keep Iranian forces at least 100 kms (60 miles) from the Golan Heights ceasefire line. The offer came up during a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but Israel rejected it as insufficient, the official said.
Viktorov defended the Iranians’ presence in Syria.
Important role
“They are playing a very, very important role in our common and joint effort to eliminate terrorists in Syria. That is why, for this period of time, we see as nonrealistic any demands to expel any foreign troops from the entirety of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said.
“We can talk with our Iranian partners very frankly and openly, trying to persuade them to do or not to do something,” he said. But asked whether Russia can force Iran out, he answered: “We cannot.”
While formally neutral in the seven-year-old civil war next door, Israel has carried out scores of air strikes against suspected emplacements or arms transfers by Iranian or Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in Syria, apparently unimpeded by the Russian defence systems deployed there.
A military hotline Israel and Russia set up in 2015 has also helped to the countries avoid inadvertently clashing over Syria.
Viktorov expressed disapproval of the attacks on Syria, but added: “We cannot dictate to Israel how to proceed ... It is not up to Russia to give Israel freedom to do anything, or to prohibit Israel to do anything.”
Meanwhile, dozens of Islamic State group fighters were cornered in a pocket of Syria’s Daraa on Tuesday after losing all other territory there to a Russian-backed regime assault, a monitor said.
To get themselves out, IS was using the release of 30 Druze women and children it kidnapped last week as a bargaining chip, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“There have been talks since yesterday between
States and Saudi Arabia have accused Tehran of providing military support to the rebels.
Recent inspections of weaponry including missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used by the Houthis “show characteristics similar to weapons systems known to be produced in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said the 125-page report.
During recent visits to Saudi Arabia, the panel was able to inspect debris from 10 missiles and found markings that suggest an Iranian origin, said the report spanning January to July this year.
“It seems that despite the targeted arms embargo, the Houthis continue to have access to ballistic missiles and UAVs to continue and possibly intensify their campaign against targets in KSA (Saudi Arabia),” said the report.
The panel said there was a “high probability” that the missiles were manufactured outside of Yemen, shipped in sections to the country and re-assembled by the Houthis.
In a letter to the panel, Iran maintained that the missiles, which the Houthis have dubbed the Burkan, are a domestic upgrade of SCUD missiles that were part of Yemen’s arsenal before the start of the war.
The experts are also investigating information that the Houthis received from Iran a monthly donation of fuel valued at $30 million. Iran has denied providing any financial support to the Houthis.
During the inspections of the missile debris, the experts mandated by the council also found power converters produced by a Japanese company and Cyrillic markings on components that suggested a Russian link.
The investigation of those findings continues.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the council in a separate report in June that some components from five missiles fired at Saudi Arabia were manufactured in Iran but that UN officials were unable to determine when they were shipped to Yemen.
The panel has opened an investigation of seven airstrikes by the Saudiled coalition that hit civilian buildings, a gas station and commercial vessels, in a possible violation of international humanitarian law. The Houthis are accused of widespread and indiscriminate use of landmines.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a military campaign to push back the Houthis and restore the internationally recognized government to power.