Lavrov calls 'US mentees' the most dangerous militants in Syria
The greatest danger in Syria is posed by the foreign terrorists who have sided with the US-backed armed opposition groups, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow, Interfax reports.
“If we look at who poses the greatest danger, it is the United States’ mentees, various foreign terrorists and militants who find their way into the armed opposition groups which the US supports,” Lavrov observed.
When asked about the presence of Iranian forces in Syria, Lavrov emphasized that the Iranian forces are in the country legitimately, “at the invitation of the legitimate government”. He added that as part of the agreements achieved between the US and the Jordanian authorities, all “non-Syrian groups” must be withdrawn from the country, but “nothing was said about Iran or pro-Iranian forces”.
On Tuesday November 14, the Russian Defense Ministry accused the US military of protecting Islamic State forces. According to Moscow, the US refuses to strike the militants retreating from the city of Abu Kamal. On two occasions the Russian military has advised the command of the Western Coalition in Syria to attack the terrorists.
“Such actions of the ‘coalition’ are evidence of the fact that the rapid offensive of Syrian forces in Abu Kamal ruined the US’s plans to create pro-American authority structures not controlled by the Syrian government, in order to control territories on the east bank of the Euphrates,” the Russian Defense Ministry commented.
Yesterday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Moscow and Washington to withdraw their forces from Syria. “If an armed solution [to the conflict in Syria] is out of the question, then those who say so should withdraw their forces,” he said.