Syria, Russia to start military exercises on 5th July
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syria and Russia will launch joint air defense exercises on July 5, Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria, said on Tuesday.
The joint exercises will last six days, Gurinov was cited as saying.
Gurinov said, “In the course of training it is planned to work out the issues of joint actions of aviation, air defense and electronic warfare forces in repulsion of air strikes.”
A day earlier, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Mekdad and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov discussed in a phone call pressing regional issues and the situation in and around Syria.
Since 2015, Russia, together with Iran, has been the main backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad during the Syrian war, which began in 2011, and has supported the Syrian government against the opposition factions that called for al-Assad down fall.