Russians Passed Off Desert Strikes as Strikes on Syrian Rebels

Russians passed off strikes in the desert as strikes on Syrian rebels Irina Chebotnikova

The occupiers were hit from where they least expected it. An Iranian general accused the Russians of lying about helping Assad. As it turned out, Russian pilots were hitting the desert, not the HTS.

24 Kanal writes about this with reference to Business Insider. By the way, the BBC Russian Service named the reason why enemy aircraft were unable to destroy Ukraine in the first days of the war.

How the Russians Lied About Helping Assad

Brigadier General Behrouz Esbati partially blamed Moscow for the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government. He made this statement during a speech at a mosque in Tehran.

Abdullah Abdi, a journalist from Geneva who covers events in Iran, published this recording. Interestingly, this is a rare case of deviation from the official Iranian propaganda line.

“We suffered a defeat, and a very serious defeat. We suffered a very strong blow, and it was very difficult,” is how General Esbati described Assad's fall.

The Russians allegedly said that their aircraft were striking the headquarters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. In fact, they shelled a desert where there was no one. This is despite the fact that it was on the wings of the air force that Russia brought victory to Assad in 2015.

< p > Moreover, when Israel struck Syria in 2024, the Russians turned off the radars and Iran could not help its allies.

< p class = "bloquote cke-markup" > Business Insider has not been able to independently verify Esbati's statements. But they are an exceptionally frank assessment by Iranian officials of their position in Syria, where a new political leadership is still being formed in the absence of Assad. Iran officially struck a much softer tone when Assad's government fell, saying at the time that Syria's fate would be decided by its people and that it would “spare no effort to help establish security and stability in Syria,” the reporters said.

Before Esbati's comments, a former senior aide to Assad said Putin had stopped military aid to Syria. Iranian planes were supposed to deliver it, but Tehran told Assad it had not received any requests from Moscow. The Kremlin ignored Assad's appeal.