US, Britain, France, Jordan refuse to name ISIL as separate terror group

MOSCOW – Russia says the United States, Britain, France, and Jordan have rejected Syria’s proposal to add ISIL to the United Nations Security Council’s sanctions list as a separate terrorist group.

“In the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, the United States, Britain, France, and Jordan have blocked Syria’s request supported by Russia to include the Islamic State (ISIL) terrorist group in the sanctions list as a separate group,” read the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday, according to Press TV.

According to reports, ISIL Takfiri terrorist group is currently mentioned as al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) in the UN’s sanctions list.

Moscow, however, said such naming fails to “reflect the true state of affairs” in Syria and Iraq, adding that the terrorist group did not evolve as a branch of al-Qaeda, but was funded and supported by the US and its allies.

“This position has an obvious political motivation – to disclaim responsibility for the growing scale of Islamic State’s (ISIL) activities and prove that it is not a new entity that has been brought into existence by the implementation of plans to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but the former al-Qaida in Iraq,” the statement added.

The four countries’ decision shows that “the anti-Assad coalition bears no moral or political responsibility” for the creation of ISIL, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow also lashed out at Washington for the emergence of extremist groups in Iraq.

“It won’t hurt to mention that AQI owes its emergence to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003,” the statement added.

The ISIL terrorist group, with members from several Western countries, controls parts of Iraq and Syria, and has been involved in a series of heinous crimes against civilians and government forces in the two Arab countries.

I.Z.