Iran advocates int'l campaign against terrorism

Defense ministers of Iran, Russia and Syria held a meeting in Tehran indicating harmony among the three states to develop cooperation in campaign against terrorism and make more political and military coordination to destroy Daesh terrorists in Syria.
Such a meeting and coordination seems more essential than ever in the aftermath of liberation of the cities of Raqe and Aleppo.
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Tehran on Thursday reviewed the developments in Syria.
They exchanged views on the situation on the ground in Syria, continued ceasefire, peace talks and future of the country.
That's the first time the defense ministers of Iran, Syria and Russia held such an unprecedented meeting in five years.
The meeting is held at a time when fresh efforts have been made to retake the city of Raqe (the so-called capital of Daesh in Syria) to the extent that tight competition has begun between the Kurdish and so-called Arabs fighting at the behest of the Untied States called the Syrian Democratic forces, on one hand and Syrian army forces, backed by Iran and Russia, on the other, to liberate the city.
For the time being, the democratic forces and Syrian army have entered the province of Raqe and Deash is more besieged. Syrian democratic forces have been able to siege Manbij city in Aleppo province and block the road Daesh gets lifeline from Turkey.
In the meantime, France has sent 150 troops of its special military forces to the northern part of the country to help Syrian democratic forces.
The events show taking shape of a new field and political developments in Syria. This means that the belligerent parties are determined to decide fate of Syria in a bid to take initiative and upper hand. Liberation of Raqe is the focus of such equations and can decide the route of Syria's prospective developments. Hence, growing cooperation among Iran, Syria and Russia to guarantee success in further advancements towards Raqe and also more diplomatic coordination for future of the developments were among exigencies for getting together of the defense ministers of the three countries.
Iran, Syria and Russia held tripartite session to show there is a solid and formal coalition among them in case of Syria and the three countries are in efforts to strengthen political consultations and military coordination on the field and pave the way for campaign against terrorists.
Moreover, the defense ministers of the three countries carried the message that Tehran, Moscow and Damascus share many common views on Syria.
So, there is the possibility that in the days ahead Syrian army and Russian air force will step up attacks on positions of terrorists in Aleppo and Raqe. Of course, prior to the Tehran trilateral session and as a precursor to the meeting, Russian air force and Syrian army carried missions on terrorists and Moscow announced that the deadline for the so-called Syrian moderate groups to distance themselves from terrorists is over.
Translator: Behnaz H. Gholipour
Editor: Safar Sarabi
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