{"id":198919,"date":"2016-03-14T19:10:41","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T19:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=198919"},"modified":"2016-03-14T19:10:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T19:10:41","slug":"putin-orders-surprise-syria-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=198919","title":{"rendered":"Putin orders surprise Syria withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a surprise move, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to start withdrawing the “main part” of its forces in Syria from Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He told a Kremlin meeting the Russian intervention had largely achieved its objectives.<\/p>\n

The comments come amid fresh peace talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the five-year Syrian conflict.<\/p>\n

Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Kremlin said he had been informed.<\/p>\n

Russia’s entry into the Syrian civil war in September 2015 tipped the balance in favour of the Syrian government, allowing it to recapture territory from rebels.<\/p>\n

“I consider the mission set for the Defence Ministry and the armed forces on the whole has been accomplished,” Mr Putin said at the Kremlin meeting.<\/p>\n

\"Russia
Russia has been carrying out raids on behalf of its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I am therefore ordering the Defence Ministry to begin the withdrawal of the main part of our military force from the Syrian Arab Republic from tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

Mr Putin also said that Russia’s Hmeimim airbase and its Mediterranean port at Tartus would continue to operate as normal.<\/p>\n

He said both must be protected “from land, air and sea”.<\/p>\n

The UN’s envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura has meanwhile described the latest peace talks as a “moment of truth”.<\/p>\n

He said there was no “plan B” should the talks fail, with the only alternative a return to war.<\/p>\n

A cessation of hostilities agreed by most participants in the conflict began late last month – but there have been reports of some violations on all sides.
\n–
\nBy: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a surprise move, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to start withdrawing the “main part” of its forces in Syria from Tuesday. He told a Kremlin meeting the Russian intervention had largely achieved its objectives. The comments come amid fresh peace talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the five-year Syrian conflict. Russia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=198919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}