The reported Russian about-face comes as the rebels, including ISIS, have made dramatic gains, taking up to 50 percent of Syria’s territory.
Asharq al Aswat reported that the Russian withdrawals prompted an unscheduled visit to Iran by Syrian Defense Minister Fahd Jassem al-Freij, who was said to have petitioned Tehran to urge Russia to reconsider.
Middle East defense officials now say the Iranian appeal has worked, at least somewhat.
They say Russian military advisers are being resent to Syria to rebuild a common war room in the coming two to three weeks capable of advising on counter-attacks against the rebels.
Clinton Blasts CEOs But Takes Their Money
She’s at it again.
While hedge-fund managers and billionaires have been hosting campaign-fundraising events for her, Hillary Clinton this past Saturday delivered a speech that pitted the working class against billionaires and hedge-fund managers, complaining about the disparity between average Americans and the so-called top one percent.
“Prosperity can’t be just for CEOs and hedge-fund managers,” she stated. “Democracy can’t be just for billionaires and corporation. Prosperity and democracy are part of your basic bargain too.”
Clinton was speaking from prepared remarks during the first major speech of her second campaign for president before a crowd of thousands at an outdoor rally on Roosevelt Island, New York City.
The class-warfare rhetoric has been a theme of Clinton’s campaign. She officially announced her candidacy in April via a YouTube video in which she complained “the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top.”
The tactic may seem a tad ironic given the massive financial infrastructure of the Clinton Foundation, which has raked in major corporate donors, as well as recent campaign fundraising events at the homes of billionaires and hedge-fund titans.
In April, Clinton’s first campaign fundraising event took place at the home of Richard C. Perry, a hedge-fund executive who is listed as donating between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
A fundraising dinner on the West Coast that same month was hosted by billionaire Haim Saban, a Democrat mega-donor who himself donated between $10 million and $25 million to the Clinton Foundation.
Clinton’s previous political campaigns have accepted corporate donations from such “top one percent” firms as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Time Warner.
The Clinton Foundation has taken money from hundreds of corporate donors, many of which are household names in America, including Google, Microsoft, Intel, General Electric, Walmart, Yahoo, Verizon, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Pfizer, ExxonMobil, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Nike, Morgan Stanley, Fedex, Pepsi, UPS, Hyundai, and General Motors.