Mr. Lavrov was quoted as saying, “We say that this position is a violation of worldwide law and represents an obstacle on the road to forming a united front to fight terrorism, including Islamic State and al-Nusra Front”.
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He pointed out that Russian Federation has suggested to Washington and its other partners fighting ISIS through establishing an alliance and supporting the political solution in Syria at the same time.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Ahmed al-Hajj pointed to recent visits by the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to regional countries, including Oman, and said despite some media reports about the possibility of talks between Syria and Saudi Arabia, it is unlikely that Muallem will meet with his Saudi counterpart in the near future.
“Our American companions and a few nations within the area persistently refuse to recognise Assad as a associate, which is relatively unusual”, Lavrov stated.
– U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov agreed on a United Nations resolution aimed at identifying those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria on Wednesday and the Security Council adopted it unanimously on Friday.
Low oil prices are hurting Russia’s budget and Moscow has held regular meetings with OPEC members, including Riyadh, on the matter.
Without a guaranteed removal of Assad, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Syrian armed opposition will not likely accept the proposal, because they will have “zero confidence” in a deal negotiated with the Assad regime, Ford noted.
In the comments published on Sunday, Lavrov also said he had told Kerry there was high risk air strikes in Syria could hit the wrong target and aggravate the conflict.
“Instead of settling their scores with one another, first one must deal with the common threat, and then seek to agree on how to live in their own country,” Lavrov said, adding that there was “a lot of superficiality and a lot of speculations” regarding the role of the Syrian government in the conflict with IS.
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Four UN personnel were freed in the pre-dawn raid that ended the 24-hour siege at a hotel in Sevare, but three to five UN workers were killed.
