Lavrentiev: Guarantor States of Astana process agreed on further cooperation to completely eliminate terrorism in Syria
Head of the Russian delegation to the 17th International Meeting on Syria in Astana Format Alexander Lavrentiev has stressed that the attacks launched by terrorist groups in Syria have increased over the recent months.
“We agreed that we must continue to cooperate until the complete elimination of these terror organizations,” said Lavrentiev during a press conference on the sidelines of the meeting held in the Kazakh capital Nur Sultan.
He urged the international community, particularly the western countries to contribute to the reconstruction process in Syria and to support the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland.
In reply to a question on the continuity of the US occupation of parts of Syria and the Turkish occupation’s non implementation of its commitments pursuant to Astana agreements, Lavrentiev said that “Russia’s stance towards this issue hasn’t changed. We urge Turkey to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the Turkish side announced that it will implement its commitments, but unfortunately this has taken a long time, therefore, we can’t see the results of the agreements we concluded.”
“We must not forget that more than 90% of Idlib is under the control of the internationally blacklisted Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorist organization, he added, pointing out that Russia hopes that next year, Idlib will be completely free of terrorism through joint measures taken within Astana format.
Lavrentiev asserted that “the American presence in Syria destabilizes the country and we are sure that all problems will be solved if the US occupation forces leave.”
Hamda Mustafa