IS has created extremist quasi-state in Iraq, Syria - Lavrov

UNITED NATIONS, September 30. /TASS/. The terrorist group calling itself Islamic State has created what in fact is an extremist quasi-state on vast territories in Iraq and Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting of the UN Security Council’s session entitled Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Settlement of Conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa and Countering the Terrorist Threat in the Region. "Rampage by Jabhat al-Nusra and Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al Qaeda in the Maghreb countries, the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda, Somalia’s Al Shabaab and Boko Haram and other groups have paled into insignificance against the expansion of the so-called Islamic State. On vast territories of Iraq and Syria the IS has in fact created an extremist quasi state having a well-oiled repressive machinery, stable sources of incomes, well-equipped army and elements of weapons of mass destruction. IS cells are establishing themselves in Libya, Afghanistan and other countries and openly declaring they have plans for seizing Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem and spreadin their ominous activities to Europe, Central and Southeast Asia and Russia," Lavrov said. "The terrorists have been carrying out mass executions and atrocities. They jeopardize the very existence of various ethnic and confessional groups, including Christians, Kurds and Alawites. The IS has a professional propaganda machinery operating in a dozen languages," Lavrov said. Read more