{"id":138294,"date":"2026-06-11T07:27:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=138294"},"modified":"2026-06-11T07:27:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:27:53","slug":"former-syria-commander-appointed-head-of-russias-aerospace-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/138294\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Syria commander appointed head of Russia\u2019s aerospace forces\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> A former commander of Russian troops in Syria was appointed head of Russia\u2019s aerospace forces, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement, the ministry said Lieutenant-General Alexander Chaiko was appointed to the position in May by a decree issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chaiko previously served as deputy head of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. The ministry described him as an experienced commander with a long military career that included leading Russian forces in Syria for nearly a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russia deployed forces to Syria in 2015 at the request of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, intervening in support of Damascus during the Syrian conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry said Chaiko commanded the Russian military grouping in Syria during part of that deployment. Assad, who was removed from power in December 2024, later received asylum in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before taking charge of the aerospace forces, Chaiko also led Russian troops in the country\u2019s eastern military district, one of the Russian military\u2019s key regional commands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The appointment comes as Russia continues to maintain military involvement in Syria while reorganizing parts of its armed forces leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Jwan Shekaki&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 A former commander of Russian troops in Syria was appointed head of Russia\u2019s aerospace forces, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday. In a statement, the ministry said Lieutenant-General Alexander Chaiko was appointed to the position in May by a decree issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Chaiko previously served [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":138295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Syria commander appointed head of Russia\u2019s aerospace forces\u00a0\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) \u2013 A former commander of Russian troops in Syria was appointed head of Russia\u2019s aerospace forces, the Russian Defense\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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