Moscow: “Ahrar al-Sham”, other US-Backed Armed Groups Reject Declared Cessation of Hostilities Regime

MOSCOW- Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry discussed in a phone conversation on Wednesday the need to accelerate the implementation of Washington pledges to separate the so-called “moderate Syrian opposition” from Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The two ministers discussed the process of implementing the cessation of hostilities agreement signed on September 9th by the U.S. and Russia. They focus on the need to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid and on the joint fight against “Daesh” and “Jabhat al-Nusra”, the ministry said. 

 Meantime, the Russian Defense Ministry stressed that “Ahrar al-Sham” besides some other US-backed armed groups announced their rejection to the declared cessation of hostilities regime.

The ministry pointed out that the total number of violations by armed groups increased to 60, most of them by Ahrar al-Sham terrorists.

Separation of Moderate Opposition From Terrorists Main Task in Syria: Peskov

In the same context, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that further promotion of settlement in Syria is hardly possible without the separation of so-called “modest opposition” forces from terrorist groups, according to Sputnik.

“The key task is to wait for the separation of moderate opposition from the terrorist groups. It is the principle objective without which further advancement is barely possible,” Peskov told journalists.

The “ceasefire” regime remains rather fragile.

“Without doubt, this gives hope that this will promote the peaceful resolution and will create the necessary atmosphere for political settlement,” Peskov said.

On September 9, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a new plan on Syria, which stipulates a truce that comes into force Monday.

Russia: Russia-US pact on Syria should be published to avoid misinterpretations

Russian Foreign Ministry asserted that the recent Russian-US conditional ceasefire agreement in Syria should be made public to avoid wrong interpretations of its content, SANA reported.

“All colleagues and partners in the international community, including members of the UN Security Council, should be able to familiarize themselves with this document and its preceding agreements, a source at the ministry told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

The source added “Of course, we would be interested in the documents’ publication to avoid omissions and opportunities to misinterpret what is laid down into these texts.”

Hamda Mustafa