American Aggression on Syria Shows Washington’s Unwillingness to Interact in Syria Settlement: Kremlin

MOSCOW-The Kremlin believes that with its recent airstrikes on Syria the United States has shown its complete unwillingness to interact with Russia in the Syrian settlement, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

“The American side has thus demonstrated [by its missile strikes on Syria] its complete unwillingness to somehow interact on Syria and take into account the interests and the concerns of others [participants in the settlement process in the Syrian Arab Republic],” Peskov told journalists, according to Itar TASS.

 Kremlin reiterates there is no alternative to Geneva process on Syria

He affirmed that there is no alternative for dialogue to solve the crisis in Syria based on Geneva and Astana formulas.

The Geneva process of settlement in Syria is too long, but there is no alternative to it, Peskov told the reporters.

“There is the Geneva process and the Astana process, which is a supporting component of the Geneva process. And the search in the framework of settlement is conducted there,” Peskov said.

“It is clear that this is a difficult process, and unfortunately, it is much longer than everyone wished, but there is no other alternative,” he said when asked if Russia considered plans for a compromise solution to resolve the crisis in Syria.

The Russian presidential spokesman noted that “returning to pseudo attempts to settle the situation” by declaring that the Syrian president should leave power cannot bring anyone closer to political settlement in Syria. “The only possible option is to continue this meticulous work underway as part of the Geneva and Astana process,” he said.

The Kremlin spokesman declined to answer a question about how the US and Russian militaries were coordinating their operations in Syria, considering Russia’s decision to suspend the bilateral memorandum on the prevention of air incidents in the Syrian airspace. The presidential spokesman told journalists to address this question to the Defense Ministry.

The memorandum that had been in effect since the autumn of 2015 was suspended on April 7 after the US Navy delivered a missile strike on an air base in the Syrian province of Homs. The US delivered the strike under the pretext of the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian province of Idlib for which Washington unfairly blamed the Syrian government without any proof.

Joint Command Center: US Aggression Crossed Red Lines, Won’t Remain Unanswered

A joint command center made up of the forces of Russia, Iran and resistance fighters supporting Syria said the US strike on a Syrian air base on Friday crossed “red lines” and it would respond to any new aggression and increase its support for its ally.

 “What America waged in an aggression on Syria is a crossing of red lines. From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well,” said the statement, according to al-ManarTV website.

The joint command center stressed that the presence of US troops in northern Syria was “illegal” and that the US cruise missile strikes on a Syrian base would not deter the allied forces from liberating all of the Syrian territory from terrorism, but will increase their support for the Syrian Army to continue its fight against terrorists plaguing Syria.

H.M