Putin withdraws 13 aircraft, 14 helicopters, 1140 soldiers from Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of some equipment and troops from Syria. He said that 13 warplanes, 14 helicopters, and 1,140 Russian soldiers have left Syria in the past few days.

Russia Today (RT) reported, today, that at a ceremony in honour of Russian military university graduates, Putin said that, “during its fight against terrorists in Syria, the Russian army clearly demonstrated its increased fighting capabilities and high level of coordination among its units”.

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Addressing the freshman graduates, Putin added, “Today you and your colleagues should take full advantage of this experience in combat training.”

The Russian president pointed out that the new sophisticated weapons the Russian army will soon receive will multiply its military capabilities, adding that the intercontinental Avangard hypersonic missiles will be used by the Russian forces in the near future then to be followed a year later by the Sarmat missiles.

Russia collaborated with the Syrian regime, in September 2015, after Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad asked for military support from Moscow in order to curb the Syrian revolution. The Russian army, then, took Khmeimim military base in Latakia as the headquarters of its forces and the launching pad of its aircraft to bomb the opposition areas, which caused the death of thousands of Syrians.