TEHRAN-Iran has provided steady military advice to Syria in its seven-year fight with terrorists, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday, stressing that the support, including Iran's military advisory presence in Syria, will continue.

"Iran will remain a supporter of the Syrian government in its efforts to remove terrorists, and continue its advisory role and help the Syrian government in the upcoming Idlib campaign," he told a weekly news briefing in Tehran, according to Press TV.

Qassemi said the Syrian government "has the right to fight against terrorists and purge them entirely from its territory."

MOSCOW- State-of-the-art weapons, including drones, were supplied to terrorists in Syria by foreign sponsors via bogus companies, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an address to the participants in an anti-terror conference in Moscow that was read out by Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov on Monday, according to Itar Tass.

Terrorists in Syria has not been eliminated to the end, Lavrov said in the address. "Scattered groups of terrorists continue fierce fighting. Notably, militants suffer no shortage of weapons and munitions. Moreover, they use state-of-the-art weapons, such as unmanned aerial vehicles. Evidently, it would be impossible without foreign sponsors."

US specialists were training militants in Syria who were set to carry out a terrorist attacks in Palmyra, the Russian Defense Ministry has said. It received the information from militants captured by the Syrian Army.

The captured militants said that they were from the Lions of the East Army group, which is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, according to the ministry. Some 500 fighters were based at the militants’ camp, which was located near the US-led international coalition’s Al-Tanf military base, according to RT.

The militants were to carry out “a series of terrorist attacks in Palmyra area” and ensure the passage of around 300 militants to capture the city within the next week, the ministry said. One of the captured militants said that they were trained by US instructors, and that the group was receiving weapons and ammunition from the US base.

MOSCOW - The Kremlin does not regard as normal that the US initiated a dispute in the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding extra duties imposed by Russia on certain US goods. At the same time this is "lawful right" of the US and Moscow will use counter-arguments in the dispute, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

"[The administration of the Russian President] does not regard [the situation with claim submission] as normal; on the other side, this is a lawful right [of the US]," Peskov told reporters.

"Russia will definitely use the broad range of counter-arguments in this regard," he noted.

MOSCOW- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated the need for implementing UNSC Resolution 2254 to preserve territorial integrity of Syria and return the refugees to their home.

According to SANA, Lavrov, at a press conference with Saudi Regime Foreign Minister, called on the United Nations and international community to play a more effective role in creating the conditions for the return of the displaced Syrians to their home, and modernize economic and social infrastructure in the country.

Moscow has been maintaining contacts with Washington over the situation in Syria’s Idlib province, including a planned chemical weapons provocation by terrorist organizations, he said.

TEHRAN– Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi, stressing that The Hague’s ruling is not legally binding, said Iran’s complaint against US was simply aimed at proving our legitimacy to the international community.

Speaking in a Radio program on Wednesday, Araghchi asserted that JCPOA has earned Iran the title of a powerful country in international and regional arenas, adding "US pressure against Iran is because of the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran; if we were not strong, there was no such pressure on us.”

PRAGUE, (ST)- The European Union has played a negative role towards the crisis in Syria through its policies and its failure to contribute to finding a solution to this crisis, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrej Babiš told the Czech Newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes on Tuesday.

 "The European Union should have contributed to solving the crisis in Syria which has caused many problems for the European countries themselves," Babiš said, noting the need for cooperation between Russia and the US to find peaceful settlement in Syria.

 MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a decision on new sanctions against the US, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Rossiya-1’s 60 Minutes show on Monday.

According to him, imposing retaliatory sanctions "is a prerogative of the Russian president." Ryabkov added that Putin "is considering various options and will make a decision in due time."

When speaking about the Russian Foreign Ministry’s role, the diplomat pointed out that "our role as an agency is to report to him [Putin], alongside other agencies, about the recent developments, also providing analysis, forecasts and some ideas." "But it is he who makes decisions," Ryabkov stressed.