Putin: Syrian army ‘only legitimate army in Syria’

MOSCOW,(ST)_The Russian President  has renewed his call for unifying international and regional efforts for combating terrorism that poses threat to great number of states and a great number of people.

The RT quoted Vladimir Putin as saying to the CBS that hundreds of thousands, millions of people suffer from terrorism criminal activity, and we all face the task of joining our efforts in the fight against this common evil.

The Russian president added that his country’s support to Syria has been limited to supplying weapons to the Syrian government, training personnel and providing humanitarian aid for the Syrian people.

“We act based on the United Nations Charter, i.e. the fundamental principles of modern international law, according to which this or that type of aid, including military assistance, can and must be provided exclusively to the legitimate government of one country or another, upon its consent or request, or upon the decision of the United Nations Security Council,” said Putin.

He pointed out that there is only one regular army in Syria under leadership of President Bashar Assad. “And he is confronted with what some of our international partners interpret as an opposition. In reality, Syrian army is fighting against terrorist organizations,” Putin said.

He also said that US attempts to “train the combat part of the opposition forces” have failed. The US had aimed to prepare up to 12,000 opposition fighters, but only 60 of those fighters managed to complete the training and only four or five actually fought with the opposition, while others joined ISIS with American weapons, Putin said, citing the US Senate hearings.

“In my opinion, provision of military support to illegal structures runs counter to the principles of modern international law and the United Nations Charter,” the Russian president said. He also added that Russia is supporting only legitimate government entities and tries to ensure a united response to the extremist threat.

Russia, Saudi Arabia discuss Syria in telephone conversation

In another development, the official news agency (SANA) reported that Putin discussed in a telephone conversation with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz the issue of settling the crisis in Syria and other regional issues.

The Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday that the two sides exchanged viewpoints on regional security matters, mainly in the context of finding ways to settle the crisis in Syria and building more effective international cooperation in fighting ISIS terrorists and other terrorist groups.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict given the complicated situation in Jerusalem was also discussed during the telephone conversation, according to the statement.

Basma Qaddour