Lavrov Stresses Need to Deal Final Blow to Terrorists Remaining in Syria

SINGAPORE- The fight against terrorism in Syria is not over yet, it is necessary to eliminate terrorists operating in the Idlib area in the northwest of the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEAN events on Thursday.

“The work [in Syria] is in full swing, a lot is yet to be done. At the same time, it is necessary to deal a final blow to terrorists near Idlib, which still remain there,” the minister said, according to Itar Tass.

 Earlier on Thursday, Head of the Main Operations Directorate at Russia’s General Staff Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi said Russia was concerned about the deteriorating situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone and attacks against Russia’s military facilities with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from that area. According to Rudskoi, militants operating there have intensified the shelling of government troops’ positions and residential areas in Aleppo, the Hama and Latakia provinces. In all, 84 such incidents have been registered over the past ten days, he added.

Lavrov: It is the Syrian people who should rule the country, determine its form of government

Attempts by external players to determine Syria’s future form of government are counterproductive, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.

“There are some external players who would prefer to decide everything for the Syrians but it is the Syrian people who should rule the country, determine its form of government and write a constitution. We do not support such attempts as we consider them to be counterproductive,” the Russian top diplomat pointed out.

Lavrov said that as a member of the Astana negotiation process, Russia had put forward an initiative that a Syrian constitutional committee be established, which was approved by both the Syrian government and opposition. He added that Moscow continued to assist United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura in forming the committee.

“It is not easy work but we will continue to help compile a member list that the government and other members of the constitutional committee will accept,” Lavrov said.

Russia holds Intensive talks with Turkey, Jordan on return of Syrian refugees

Russia is holding intensive talks with Turkey and Jordan on the return of refugees to Syria, Lavrov said on Thursday upon the completion of events in the format of an ASEAN conference.

“Very successful talks with Jordan are in progress now and I think we’ll see their results in the short term,” he said. “Similar talks with Turkey are underway, too, and Turkey admitted the biggest number of Syrian refugees .”

Lavrov said that the EU could be equally interested in the return of refugees to Syria from Europe if it pursued its own interests.

“The country that has genuine interest in this [process] is Lebanon and the refugees have already started returning from there,” Lavrov said. “For the time being, they are coming back home in small groups but several thousands of them are already in Syria and our military police are assisting them.”

Some UN agencies are in no hurry to provide assistance to Syrian refugees on Damascus-controlled territories and toe the Western line in this matter, he said.

“At an early stage, we worked with the UN at the level of the secretary general, at the level of the Humanitarian Affairs Office and at the level of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),” he said. “We have an interested response from the UNHCR, which was outlined by the deputy high commissioner in Sochi at the Astana format meeting on July 30-31.”

“As for other UN agencies, we have a feeling, which we would like to double-check, that they are guided by the West’s stance and wait until this position changes,” Russia’s top diplomat noted. “So far, we have seen no UN employees in the areas controlled by the government where assistance is needed to restore the destroyed life-support systems. I hope this is a false impression, this could be a mere coincidence.”.

H.M