No Solution for Ending Hostilities in Syria “Without Separating “Opposition” from Terrorists: Lavrov

GENEVA, (ST)-Russian Foreign Minister Sergy Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry on Friday held talks on ways to solve the crisis in Syria and fight terrorism.

In a joint press conference following the talks, Lavrov stressed that the Russian and US sides managed to achieve progress towards agreement on certain issues, but they still have differences to work through.

He said that both sides stressed the need of the “moderate opposition” side in Syria to distance itself from Deash and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations. They also handled ways to deliver humanitarian assistance to all Syrian cities, Lavrov added.

 “Without separating the “opposition” forces in Syria from terrorists, I just do not see a solution for ending hostilities in this country,” Lavrov said.

He pointed out that a new round of direct dialogue between the Syrian government and the “opposition” must be launched, affirming that Moscow supports the UN Chief’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura’s efforts to start direct dialogue between the government and all spectra of “opposition” and that it backs an all-out representation of the “opposition” in the intra-Syrian talks with reference to the Kurds.

The Russian minister went on to say that “Moscow has for the first time received a list including the names of the groups which joined the cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria.”

On his part, Kerry said that changing the name of “Jabhat al-Nusra” doesn’t change its being a terrorist organization, noting that “Jabhat al-Nusra” wasn’t part of the cessation of hostilities agreement and that targeting it is legal.

Kerry added that terrorist organizations like “Deash” and “Jabhat al-Nusra” form huge danger threatening the Syrian people.

Hamda Mustafa