Putin says he's pulling Russian troops out of Syria
Putin reportedly called Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday to inform him that a troop withdrawal would take place the next day, declaring that Russia's military intervention in the Syrian war had largely achieved objectives.
"The task assigned to the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces as a whole has been largely accomplished, so I order the minister of defense to begin withdrawing the main part of our military factions of the Syrian Arab Republic tomorrow," Putin said, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
The Kremlin announced that in order to monitor the two-week-old ceasefire between the regime and opposition forces on the ground, some Russian forces will remain behind. It's not clear whether Russia will stop carrying out airstrikes in Syria.
Russia's bombing campaign has mostly focused on rebels that oppose the Assad regime. While Putin has said that Russia is in Syria to fight terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh), the country's airstrikes and advisers have mostly focused on bolstering the Assad regime.
Analysts were quick to point out that Russia's statement leaves room for the country to continue its mission in Syria in some capacity.
Hassan Hassan, a Syria expert who co-authored the book "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror," noted on Twitter that a "big caveat" is that the Kremlin's statement mentions withdrawing just "main forces."