The Reason Why Russia Continues Its Anti-Daesh Operation in Syria

Russia "fully understands" that if it does not fight against terrorists in Syria and Iraq, then tomorrow it will have to "catch them in the Moscow subway and other regions of the country," Hassan Shemshadi, an Iranian Radio and Television correspondent in Syria and Iraq, told Sputnik.

The journalist added that terrorists pose a security threat to the world, not just to Russia or Iran.

"We have already been witness to the inhumane terrorist activities in Paris, London, Belgium and Turkey that was sadly helping terrorists to travel to Syria and Iraq" for the most part of the Syrian civil war, he noted.

Indeed, Daesh has been notorious for its ability to wreak havoc beyond the Middle East. Experts have also been concerned that the weaker the brutal group becomes in Iraq and Syria, the more active it has tried to be in other countries.

A recent report prepared by the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UN Security Council suggested that up to 30 percent of Daesh's foreign fighters have already returned home. While some of them left the battlefield because they were disenchanted with the radical organization and its activities, others came back to their country of origin to carry out terrorist attacks. 

Shemshadi further said that Russia and Iran are trying to "defeat terrorists and tackle their regional sponsors." This is why, he said, their counterterrorism efforts are "justified." The journalist called Russia's cooperation with Iran in Syria "a major success" and "a strategically measured step."

Russian military aviation at Khmeimim airbase in Syria

© Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov

/

Go to the mediabank

Russia launched its counterterrorism campaign in the war-torn Arab country at the request of President Bashar al-Assad at a time when Damascus was struggling to contain the foreign-sponsored insurgency.

The aerial operation that also involved military assistance and reconnaissance has helped the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to turn the tide of the years-long war and secure major victories against Daesh, al-Nusra Front and other terrorists group. Iranian assistance has also played a major role in helping the SAA in its efforts to defeat jihadists trying to overthrow Assad.

Russian warplanes at Hemeimeem air base in Syria

© Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov

/

Go to the mediabank

"We hope that Russia's military operations aimed at defeating terrorists in Syria and Iraq will go on until the final victory when security in these countries and the region will be restored," the journalist noted.

Shemshadi also said that the war in Syria had nothing to do with the will of the Syrian people. It is rather an "attempt of foreign plotters to fulfill their nefarious goals."

"It should be mentioned that the influx of foreign recruits for terrorist groups in Syria was organized right from the beginning. Western intelligence agencies, particularly in the US, have acknowledged that tens of thousands of terrorists from 90 countries are fighting against legitimate authorities in Iraq and Syria," he said.