Moscow Criticizes US Plans to Assist Terrorists in Syria

MOSCOW-Russia has criticized the United States over its plans to support terrorists in Syria, saying it could further escalate the chaotic situation in the Arab country, according to Press TV.

The spokesman for the Kremlin said Monday that Washington’s plans together with Turkey’s to provide air cover for some terrorists operating inside Syria could affect the central government’s ability to fight Takfiri groups like ISIL.

“Of course, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the aid, especially financial or technical, to the so-called moderate opposition in Syria, leads to further destabilization of the situation in the country,” Russian media quoted Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Washington and Ankara have claimed that by helping the so-called “moderate” armed groups fight ISIL in Syria, they aim to “weaken” the group in order to purge it from the long strip of land it controls along the Turkish border.

The Russian official added that growing interest from the US to intervene in Syria clearly exposes the difference between Moscow and Washington’s positions toward more than four years of conflict in the Arab country.

“And this is absolutely no secret. We have never hushed up these differences,” Peskov added.

H.M