Syrian Government Has Every Right to Protect People Living in the Country, Including in Idleb: Lavrov

MOSCOW, (ST)- Terrorist organizations continue their provocations in the de-escalation zone in Syria’s Idleb, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, pointing out that terrorists won’t be allowed to stay there.

In a joint press conference with his Bangladeshi counterpart Abulkalam Abdul Momen in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said “regarding the situation in Syria, the terrorist organizations, particularly Jabhat al-Nusra, are controlling most of Idleb area and they continue to violate the de-escalation zone agreement there by attacking civilians and Syrian army personnel , a matter that can’t be ignored”. He stressed that “the terrorist won’t be allowed to stay in Idleb.”

He affirmed that the Syrian government has every right to protect people living in the country, including Idlib province.

 We seek to ensure the implementation of agreements on resolving the Jabhat al-Nusra issue in the Idlib de-escalation zone,” he noted, according to Tass. “As Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, Russia cannot tolerate these terrorists remaining safe there like in a preserved area,” Lavrov said.

“There’s a limit to everything. The situation in Idlib and other areas where terrorists are still active cannot go on like this forever. We will proceed from the fact that the Syrian government has every right to ensure the safety of its people on its territory,” the Russian top diplomat emphasized.

Setting Free Arrested Terrorists by US Would Constitute a Crime

Lavrov criticized US threats to set captured terrorists in Syria free, noting that European countries, “whose citizens these bandits are”, are refusing to take them back.

Previously, US President Donald Trump urged European countries to take back their citizens who have been captured in Syria after fighting in the ranks of the Daesh terror group.

“So far, double standards are being manifested in that our Western colleagues in Europe and other parts of the world do not want to take back foreign terrorists captured by the Americans and Kurds on the eastern bank of the Euphrates”, he said at a press conference in Moscow, according to Sputnik.

“There is some dispute, Americans are threatening to set them free, which would be a terrible crime, I think”, the minister stressed.

According to him, the US has even been trying to convince the Iraqi government to take the Daesh terrorists.

Hamda Mustafa