Closed meeting between Russian envoy, Eighth Brigade in Syria’s Daraa
DARAA, Syria (North Press) – Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian president’s special envoy to Syria, held a closed meeting on Friday with the Eighth Brigade in the countryside of Daraa to discuss the conditions in south Syria.
The headquarters of the Eighth Brigade, which is affiliated with the Russian-backed Fifth Corps, is located in the city of Busra al-Sham, southeast Daraa countryside.
Ahmed Awda, the head of the Eighth Brigade, asked the Russia envoy to consider seriously the qualitative rearmament and provide medium and heavy weapons to the Brigade, a source close to the Eighth Brigade who attended the meeting confirmed.
Awda stressed the necessity of replacing Russian officials in the operations room of the south area in Hmeimim military base, the source added.
Awda justified this by saying that “some of them did not realize the Brigade’s current and future logistical needs, and do not know the necessity of deploying the Brigade more broadly in the southern region.
Three days ago, Awda paid a secret visit to Jordan through Jaber border crossing, where he met with security officials of the Jordanian general intelligence apparatus, according to the source.
The visit was to deepen the security and logistical coordination with Jordan over Iranian presence on the Syrian-Jordanian borders, the source said.
A Russian security delegation accompanying Ahmad Awad visited the Jordanian capital in October regarding the coordination, discussing the Iranian issue in the southern area and the complete opening of Jaber-Nesib border crossing between Jordan and southern Syria.
Jordan stipulated that Iranian-backed groups should stay far from its borders; however, neither Moscow, Amman, nor Damascus issued any official statements confirming the details of this agreement, according to sources from the Syrian opposition.