Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), called into question Russia’s commitment to the political survival of Syrian President Bashar Assad, one of Iran’s most important proxies.
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President Obama “still hasn’t put forward the broad, overarching strategy needed to defeat” the Islamic State in Syria or Iraq, the Foreign Affairs committee’s chairman, Rep. Ed Royce, said at the start of Wednesday’s hearing.
Trudeau said that for now nations involved in diplomatic efforts on Syria’s conflict should concentrate on what was agreed on in worldwide talks last week in Vienna.
Lavrov said the “entire spectrum” of Syrian society should be represented at the negotiating table and reiterated Russia’s traditional stance that the fate of embattled president Bashar al-Assad should be decided by “the Syrian people”.
But her remarks appeared to suggest a difference of approach compared with Iran, which has sent forces to fight alongside Mr Assad’s military and ordered in fighters from the Lebanese Hizbullah group, which it controls. They are supporting him with weapons, money and fighters from Iran, from Hezbollah in Lebanon and from Russian Federation.
Russian Federation in September began carrying out air strikes at Islamic State fighters in Syria at Assad’s request.
The forthcoming talks are in continuation of Russia’s efforts aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria, he added.
Russian jets bombed 24 targets in Syria on Tuesday after “opposition representatives” gave them coordinates, marking the first time Moscow has claimed to work with opposition groups during its air campaign.
Staffan de Mistura to meet Russian foreign minister as Moscow says it has invited regime and rebel groups for talks.
Airforce planes hit a total of 263 targets in two days, the ministry said.
State TV rolled live footage of the road being reopened.
Raqqa has previously been targeted by Syrian government air strikes, as well as raids by the US-led coalition fighting ISIL. “It is the beginning of a political process”, said Irina Zvyagelskaya, a Middle East analyst at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Meanwhile, a Syrian rebel group has defended its decision to use prisoners as human shields against regime and Russian air strikes.
Five years passed and the country has only become more chaotic: Syria’s civil war shows no sign of abating and the rise of the IS group has further worsened the security situation in the country and beyond.
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“We don’t ask that Iran won’t attend but we ask for example that Iran should admit (accept the) Geneva Communique, that there will be no future for al-Assad”, said Nagham al-Ghadri, vice-president of the main Western-backed Syrian political opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition.
