Russia insists on UN mediation on Syria, Israeli forces near Golan Heights

Moscow, 09 December (HS). On the rebels’ control over Syria, Russia said that it has always been in favor of a political solution to the Syrian crisis. At this time there is an urgent need to resume negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations. Meanwhile, Israeli security forces have reached near the Golan Heights.

The Moscow Times newspaper said Syria’s ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow. Russian news agencies made the announcement on Sunday evening, citing a Kremlin source. Assad and his family arrived here after fleeing the country as Islamist-led rebels entered Damascus. Russia has called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the rapidly changing ground situation in the war-torn country. Russia has given asylum to Assad and his family on humanitarian grounds.

The Kremlin source also said the rebels who ousted Assad in a forceful offensive had “guaranteed the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria. Russia has a naval base in Tartus, Iran, and a military air base in Khmeimim. Moscow’s forces became involved militarily in the Syrian conflict in 2015. This helped Assad’s forces crush the opposition in a bloody civil war.

“Russia has always been in favor of a political solution to the Syrian crisis,” the Kremlin source said. Our starting point is the need to resume negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations.” A Russian representative to the United Nations announced that Moscow requested an emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in Syria on Monday afternoon.

According to Russia’s state news agency Tass, Russian officials are in contact with representatives of the armed Syrian opposition. Tass quoted the American newspaper New York Times as saying that Israeli forces entered Syrian territory in the Golan Heights. According to the New York Times, this step was taken at a time when former Syrian President Bashar Assad has fled the country. This is likely to increase regional instability. Two Israeli officials said Israeli troops have entered the demilitarized buffer zone between Israel and Syria near the Golan Heights. Israeli military chief Harzi Halevi said that Israel has deployed its troops in Syrian territory.