Syrian army makes major military gains in Aleppo as Russia proposes reform

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Syrian army makes major military gains in Aleppo as Russia proposes reform

Syria’s army broke a more than year-long jihadist siege of a military air base in the country’s north Tuesday, scoring its first major breakthrough since the beginning of Russia’s air campaign. However, the high-profile victory came only hours after one of the deadliest attacks in the conflict in the regime’s seaside stronghold in Latakia, killing 22 people. Syrian troops, backed by pro-government militia, broke through the Islamic State group’s siege of the Kweyris military airport in northern Aleppo province, and Syrian state television reported a “large number of IS terrorists” were killed, but provided no other details. If the base is completely secured, it could be used by Russian planes to launch strikes, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.

Leading Syrian ally Russia has proposed the Syrian government and opposition should agree on launching a constitutional reform process taking up to 18 months, which will be followed by early presidential elections, according to a draft document obtained by Reuters. Moscow has drawn up the eight-point proposal before a second round of multilateral talks on Syria in Vienna this week. The proposal says that the Syrian sides should agree on the steps at a future conference organized by the United Nations. The constitutional reform process will not be chaired by Syrian President Bashar Assad, the document said, but did not rule out his participation in future elections.