Commander of Russian-backed Eighth Brigade of Syria’s Daraa visits Moscow
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – Syrian activists circulated yesterday on social media pictures of Ahmad al-Awda Abu Hamza, commander of the Eighth Brigade of the Russian-backed Fifth Corps in Syria, at Moscow airport.
This comes two months after the settlement processes done by the Syrian government in Daraa, south Syria, under the auspices and coordination of the Russians.
Al-Awda has been in Russia for days, without revealing the reasons for the visit, North Press reported sources close to al-Awda on Saturday.
However, other sources said al-Awda was in Russia for ten days, but now he is in Jordan, and the photos were published after his return from Moscow.
The Fifth Corps was an alliance of five Syrian rebel groups that was formed during the Syrian Civil War in September 2014.
Influence
Al-Awda’s visit to Moscow is to “discuss the process of settling the security and imposing stability in the south, where the commander of the Eighth Brigade will be part of it. Also, doctors in Moscow could examine his leg after the treatment he received in Jordan,” Brigadier General Ibrahim al-Jabawi, a member of the Syrian Negotiations Committee, said.
“After coming back from Moscow, it is possible that the Eighth Brigade be expanded to include all of Houran region,” al-Jabawi told North Press.
The expansion of control “will help solve many issues in Daraa, foremost of which is the raids and arrest campaigns carried out by the government’s Air Force Intelligence, as its role will be limited to establishing fixed security-related detachments only,” al-Jabawi added.
“What matters for Russia is to establish security so that it can make settlements in the rest of Syria, similar to the settlements in the south,” he noted.
Duties
“There are duties that Russia has to carry out, which are the result of the understandings that took place between it and the American side, including the expulsion of Iran from southern Syria with a Russian guarantee,” Hassan al-Hariri, a member of the Constitutional Committee and head of the Syrian Council for Change, said.
Russia has begun to increase its presence in south Syria, after the confrontation between the two sides in the region began to increase, he told North press.
Al-Hariri believes the visits of Dr. Khaled Alwan al-Mahamid and Ahmad al-Awda to Russia “are nothing but an actual implementation of the role that Russia is playing in south Syria,” al-Hariri added.
“The Fifth Corps is considered one of the Russian tools and its important arms in confronting Iran, which may bear the responsibility of confronting the Iranian militias or those supported by it if any clashes break out,” according to al-Hariri.
“The local community will not benefit from what is happening except for some small assistance,” al-Hariri noted.
After the settlement process in Daraa ended, which started last September and lasted for about two months, Russia took a number of steps, such as providing some humanitarian aid and opening a center to teach the Russian language.
The Russian steps “had a role in preventing the invasion of the city of Daraa and the displacement of residents, which increased its popularity in south Syria,” as al-Hariri sees.
“All of this aims, in the end, to end the Iranian role, according to what was agreed upon.”
He pointed out that there is international pressure on Russia to abide by its commitments, on top of which is keeping Iran away from south Syria, as well as the factions loyal to it from the Israeli border.