Russia has announced the dismissal of the commander of the Western Military District fighting in Ukraine, And appoint another general in his place. The new commander is General Alexander Zuravliov, who became famous after his participation with his country’s forces in the Syrian war, and directly supervised the battle that destroyed the city of Aleppo.
The new appointment comes a day after Russia lost the strategic city of Lyman, which is the center of supply for its forces in Donetsk.
Who is Alexander Zuravlev?
In July 2016, Zhuravlev, 57, was assigned to missions in Syria, initially becoming the commander of the Russian forces.
Before he assumed this position, the Russian and regime forces were engaged in battles to seize eastern Aleppo, which is controlled by opposition factions, which led to steady progress against the defending forces.
Zuravliov’s assignment to lead the attack on eastern Aleppo coincided with the Russian army’s escalation of its attacks on opposition-held territories.
His forces completed the siege of the densely populated city, causing a large number of deaths, and hastening the application of the tactic that was known for Russia’s intervention in Syria, including siege, starvation, and bombing to force surrender.
His leadership also saw a significant increase in documented cluster munition attacks in Aleppo.
According to the Violations Documentation Center in Syria, cluster munitions were used 137 times in Aleppo between September 10 and October 10 2016, a 791% increase over the average number of cluster munition attacks in the previous eight months.
With the end of the Aleppo battle in December 2016, Zhuravlev left the command of the Russian army in Syria, returned to his country, and received the highest honors given to a Russian officer, the Order of the Hero of the Russian Federation.
Zuravlev later stated in an interview that Syria had taught him the value of “military prowess” and that lessons learned there had been incorporated into all of Russia’s military exercises.