The military operation, which Russia has been conducting together with the Syrian government troops, is coming to an end, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad on November 21. “Of course, complete victory over terrorism is still far away,” he said. “But, regarding our joint efforts to fight terrorists on the Syrian territory, this military operation is indeed drawing to a close.”

Russia had been waiting for this statement. On October 24, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that the Syrian territory controlled by ISIS (an organization prohibited in Russia) had shrunk to 5%, compared to over 70% before the start of the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Since 2015, about 1,000 cities and towns in Syria with an aggregate area of over 500,000 sq km have been liberated, and 1.1 million people have returned to their homes.

Now, the active stage of the military operation in Syria is nearing its end, said Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, at the trilateral meeting in Sochi with his counterparts from Turkey and Iran, Hulusi Akar and Mohammad Bagheri, respectively. The operation has allowed preserving the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and created conditions for restoring peaceful life, he said.

It can be stated with certainty that the command of the Russian troops in Syria has fully achieved the goals and objectives set by the Russian Commander-in-Chief, President Vladimir Putin. The operation, begun on September 30, 2015, was conducted at a high organizational and technical level and with minimal losses.

Importantly, throughout the entire operation in Syria, the Russian President paid increased attention to the problems of fighting international terrorism and repeatedly called on his foreign partners to join the fight against the global evil. The Russian Armed Forces played a key role in saving Syria, Putin says. And the main goal – complete destruction of militants on the territory of Syria – will be achieved in the near future.

This was stated at the meeting of Presidents Putin and Assad in Sochi on November 21. The Syrian leader expressed a heartfelt gratitude to the Russian military for their assistance to the government troops. “Syrian people will never forget the courage of Russians who helped us to drive away terrorists and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country,” Assad said at a meeting with commanders of the Russian army.

Active actions of the Russian aerospace troops helped the Syrian army to destroy about 40,000 terrorists. At present, measures are being taken to eliminate the remaining militants in Abu Kemal and establish full control over areas of the Deir ez-Zohr province bordering on Iraq.

The military victory allows not only ousting terrorists from the Syrian land, but also preserving the territorial integrity of the country, shutting down any attempt to illegally change the Syrian government from the outside, establishing dialog between various political forces representing all peoples, denominations and social groups of the country, and, finally, starting restoration of the economy destroyed by war.

The scope of the process was to a large extent set by the joint statement adopted by the Russian and US leaders on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vietnam. “The two Presidents affirmed that these steps must include full implementation of UNSCR 2254, including constitutional reform and free and fair elections under UN supervision, held to the highest international standards of transparency, with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate. The Presidents affirmed their commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, unity, independence, territorial integrity, and non-sectarian character,” the document reads.

A crucial stage in the Syrian political settlement will be the Congress of the National Dialog of Syria, the idea of which was proposed by Moscow and supported by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Erdogan at the trilateral summit in Sochi on November 22.

“We agreed to hold this extremely important event at the proper level, ensure participation of representatives of broad strata of Syrian society, and we instructed the Foreign Ministry, special services and defense agencies to work on the composition and timeline of the Congress to be held it here, in Sochi,” Putin said after the talks.

Of course, the process of political settlement cannot be expected to go smoothly from now on. Over the years of the conflict, Syria has accrued a huge conflict potential between the parties of the internal political process, the official Damascus and various opposition alliances. Interests of external forces, which are in some or other way linked to the Syrian crisis, are still to a large extent contradictory. These forces are first of all Turkey, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, and representatives of the Kurds.

Still, the contradictory stance of the United States raises the biggest concerns. While declaring its adherence to the principle of territorial integrity of sovereign states, America at the same time intends to maintain its illegal military presence in Syria.

The Washington Post recently quoted its sources as saying that the US administration did not intend to withdraw troops from Syria after defeating ISIS, but planned to establish a new government in the north of the country. According to the publication, American officials hope to use their permanent military presence in the north of Syria to support the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in order to get concessions from Assad at the talks in Geneva held under the auspices of the UN.

“They (the US) are there despite the will of the legitimate government of Syria, without any other additional legal grounds,” Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in this regard. “Actually, the behavior (of the US in Syria) is close to what is defined as occupation,” she emphasized, adding that establishing authorities uncontrolled by Damascus on the territory of Syria would break up the country.

America’s selfish position, aimed at interference with Syria’s internal affairs may significantly slow down both the political settlement process and the country’s social and economic recovery, and will only prolong the suffering of Syrian people that have experienced all the grief of a seven-year war. In fact, Washington is trying to rob Syrians of the results of the victory over terrorists and hope for a peaceful future.

Meanwhile, social and economic recovery of Syria will require a lot of effort, the Russian president believes. “At today’s talks, we did not ignore the issue of Syria’s social and economic recovery,” he said after the meeting with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts. “We will have to do a lot of work to help Syrians to rebuild infrastructure, restore industrial production, agriculture and trade, and re-launch social infrastructure – hospitals, schools and kindergartens.”

“It is extremely important to exponentially increase humanitarian aid to the population, to clear the Syrian territory of mines and preserve its historical and cultural heritage,” Putin emphasized. During the talks, the parties agreed “to do everything to encourage other countries, and regional and international organizations to join these efforts,” he added.

The Syrian government has officially confirmed that priority in restoration work will be given to Russia and Iran, i.e. the countries that actively supported Syria in its fight for territorial integrity and independence against terrorist groups. At the same time, it is obvious that many countries will want to participate in the restoration, since there is a lot of work to be done. And Russia may agree to cooperate with serious partners interested in helping Syria to achieve peace and prosperity.

Syria should become a place of broad international cooperation, not an arena for confrontation.