Russia, Syria deny report of joint war games with Iran

TEHRAN,June 21(MNA) – Russia and Syria on Tuesday denied an Iranian media report that Syria would host Russian, Chinese and Iranian military forces for joint exercises. On June 16, the Fars News Agency quoted an informed source saying that Iran, Russia, China, and Syria plan to stage joint war games in Syria soon. 90,000 troops from the four countries will take part in the war games, the informed source said. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the Russian Defense Ministry had called such reports “disinformation”. The Russian news agency Interfax also quoted an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was in Moscow on Tuesday, as saying that it was not true. “There will be nothing like that. This is one of those (pieces of) false information that are distributed about (Syria),” Bouthaina Shabaan said.