Russian Federation does not want to take into account the specific interests of only Assad or the opposition, only the interests of Syria as a whole, Lavrov said in an interview with Vesti v Subbotu TV host Sergei Brilev on Saturday.
Advertisement
“No one disagrees that the US has to talk to Russian Federation and Iran”, said Daniel Serwer, an expert on peace-building in the Middle East at the Middle East Institute, a think tank in Washington.
Earlier this month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry had said his government believed that “Russia’s intervention [in Syria], given its capabilities, will serve to limit terrorism in Syria and eventually eradicate it”.
The FSA is a loose alliance of groups, a few of which have received military aid from Assad’s foreign enemies, they are often led by former Syrian army officers and espouse a nationalist vision for the country. Assad’s fall would have led to the collapse of the Syrian army and state institutions, leading to chaos, geopolitical upsets and giving Daesh the upper hand there. “It is necessary to unite everybody in all directions”, stressed Lavrov. However, the militant groups have frequently turned on each other and engaged in infighting in a power struggle and over resources.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations.
Western-backed Syrian rebels rejected Moscow’s idea of elections, which they suspect as a strategy for keeping Assad in power. It came after US Secretary of State, John Kerry, held talks with the Saudi leadership in Riyadh, with both sides pledging to boost military and financial support to rebels fighting against Assad.
Russian warplanes have been mounting air strikes against insurgents in Syria since September 30, a campaign Moscow says is aimed at Islamic State but which has mostly struck areas of western Syria held by other rebels battling to topple Assad.
Reacting to Lavrov’s statement, Free Syrian Army rebel fighters said that Russian Federation must stop bombing them, before talking about helping them.
The price tag could skyrocket if Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin decides to send more troops, vehicles and aircraft to the Middle East or changes his mind and decides to launch a ground invasion – as was suggested around the beginning of the month – to wipe out anti-Assad forces. The US and allies like Saudi Arabia, Turkey and much of Europe are united in insisting that Assad must step down for a credible transition to occur.
Hosting a delegation of Russian parliamentarians in Damascus on Sunday, Mr Assad expressed his gratitude for Moscow’s support and said eliminating “terrorist” groups would resolve Syria’s problems.
Until now, the Kremlin has said it is impossible to distinguish between terrorists.
Advertisement
The army said the man had taken off from the southern section of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, adjacent to southern Syria.
