Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and said some fighters were “openly flaunting” the alliance.
Vasily Nebenzia told the Security Council that rebels fighting with the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have not only hidden the fact that they have Ukraine’s support, but are also openly flaunting it.
The envoy said there was an “identifiable trace” indicating that Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service was “providing weapons to fighters” in northwestern Syria.
“Ukrainian military instructors from the GUR are present… training HTS fighters for combat operations,” Nebenzia alleged, including against Russian troops in Syria.
A renewed offensive last week led by HTS and its allies marked a massive shift in the long-established boundaries of Syria’s civil war, with Islamist-led rebels capturing Aleppo for the fourth time in a row. The biggest cities are advancing on us.
Russia is one of Assad’s key allies. Its 2015 intervention in the Syrian civil war turned the tide in his government’s favor.
Amid the new offensive, a statement from Syria’s army command said its forces were attacking “terrorist organizations” in northern Hama and Idlib provinces with Russian air support.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Russia and Iran – both supporters of Assad’s hardline regime – “bear the main responsibility” for the recent escalation in fighting.
Kiev attacked Assad for recognizing Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and said Ukrainians were also being targeted on a nightly basis by Iranian-designed drones.
“Russian dictator (Vladimir) Putin and his allies in Iran are making every effort not to lose control over the puppet Syrian regime, which the majority of Syrians associate with inhumane cruelty, atrocities and crimes,” the ministry said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
