Russia starts withdrawing air force deployed in Syria

The first of Moscow's warplanes landed back in Russia from Syria on March 15 at the start of a surprise withdrawal that Western governments hope could boost United Nations-brokered peace talks ongoing in Geneva by pressuring the Syrian government.

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura described the pullout as a "significant development" for peace negotiations.

"We hope [this] will have a positive impact on the progress of the negotiations [in Geneva]," he said in a statement on March 15, the fifth anniversary of the start of the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 14 ordered the "main part" of Russia's forces out of the war-torn nation, but the Kremlin denied it was trying to pressure its long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia will, however, keep a contingent at its air and naval bases in Syria and a senior official said strikes against "terrorists" would continue.

One al-Qaeda-linked group, the al-Nusra Front, branded the withdrawal a "defeat" and vowed to launch a new offensive in Syria.

Putin said March 14 that Moscow's military goal had been "on the whole" completed some five-and-a-half months and 9,000 combat sorties after the Kremlin launched its bombing campaign in support of Assad.
State media broadcast live footage of flag-waving crowds greeting returning pilots at a military base in southwest Russia as a brass band played.

"It is still too early to speak of victory over terrorism. The Russian air group has a task of continuing to strike terrorist targets," Russian Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies at Moscow's Hmeimim base in Syria.

The West reacted cautiously, since Moscow is yet to specify a...