Lavrov, SANA – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed
that the Syrian army is the most effective force on the ground in
fighting terrorism.
The international coalition against the terrorist organization of the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will not be effective with Syria
not being part of it, said Lavrov in a speech addressing the students
and teachers of Moscow State Institute of International Relations on
Tuesday.
He dismissed the calls for President Bashar al-Assad’s departure as a
precondition for embarking on the fight against terrorism as “harmful”
and...
“unrealistic”, calling for them to be stopped.
“President al-Assad who was elected by his people is still a
completely legitimate president regardless of the Western statements,”
said Lavrov.
He criticized the international community over this issue, saying
they have contradicted themselves when two years ago they dealt with the
Syrian leadership as being a legitimate leadership as far as the
chemical weapons were concerned, while they now refrain from
coordinating with the Syrian government when it comes to ISIS, whereas
they do coordinate with the Iraqi government in this regard.
He referred to the Russian President’s initiative on unifying the
efforts of all the sides against ISIS and the other terrorist
organizations, noting that Russia made it clear to all the countries
that are aware of the ISIS threat that they should coordinate with the
Syrian army towards more effectiveness in fighting terrorism.
This, Lavrov said, requires that all forces be unified and all other matters be put on the shelf for some time later.
“We look at the reactions of the Western and Gulf states and other
countries and we see some there who are getting it,” he added.
Lavrov referred to his meeting yesterday with a delegation of the
“Syrian opposition”, saying Russia seeks to unify “the opposition” with
the aim to work with the Syrian government to find a form to build a
future Syria.
This issue, he said, is stated in Geneva 1 document, noting that a
lot of countries have started to realize that work should be in that
direction in order to come to sitting down at the dialogue table.
On a relevant note, Lavrov condemned ISIS destruction of the
historical temples in the ancient Syrian Palmyra city and the ruins in
Iraq, dismissing these acts as aimed at shaking the base of the common
human culture.
In this light, Lavrov said, the task of protecting cultural heritage
is getting more urgent, calling for taking steps to come up with a firm
stand by the international community against ISIS.
Lavrov announced in the course of his speech that there will be a
ministerial meeting at the Security Council at the end of September to
discuss international security and the terror threats in the Middle East
and North Africa.
H. Said
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