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376260
Tue, 08/04/2015 - 11:22
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Russia believes US plans to bomb Syria government forces are counterproductive - Lavrov

DOHA, August 3. /TASS/. Russia believes the United States’ plans to protect Syria’s so-called moderate opposition by means of bombing government troops are counterproductive as such steps could only hamper anti-terrorism efforts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. Lavrov said he had raised this issue at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Doha following U.S. President Barack Obama’s sanctioning U.S.’ possible bombardment of the Syrian government troops. "This issue was raised. I raised this issue before John Kerry. When a year ago the United States announced its plans to establish a coalition to fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Washington back then enrolled consent of the Iraqi government but opted not to ask consent from Damascus," Lavrov said. "Already then, we pointed to the illegitimacy and counter-productivity of such an approach as violating international laws in principle. And as for practical aspects, all this hampers the formation of a consolidated front to fight against Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and their affiliated terrorist groups." "All recognize that air strikes only are not enough, it is necessary to consolidates the like-minded, including those who repulse the terrorist threat with weapons in their hands on the ground," the Russian minister said. "And they include the Syrian and the Iraqi armies and the Kurds. This is the core of the Russian president’s initiative that was voiced at a meeting with the successor to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia - to form a common front to rebuff terrorism, a front that will consolidate efforts of all those who fight against terrorists on the ground and those who can back this fight," Lavrov said. "Concurrently, the Russian president offered efforts to promote political processes in Syria in line with the agreements of the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012." "As for the latest developments [concerning the actions of the U.S.-led coalition against the terrorist group Islamic State], we posed a question to [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry," he said. "We said that we think it counterproductive to announce publicly that some armed groups trained by the Americans will be sent to Syria, without any consent from the Syrian government, and that these groups will be under protection of the coalition’s aviation and that to protect these groups aviation will be authorized to deliver air strikes against any forces that might be seen as an obstacle for these groups." "Along with principled considerations, from the point of view of international law a lot of question arise that might hamper anti-terrorist efforts. First of all, because it is sometimes difficult to see who is fighting against whom and who is hampering whom," he said. "The most important thing is, and we told it at the meeting, that all previous examples of training gunmen of the so-called moderate opposition by U.S. instructors on the territories of neighbouring states ended in most of these gunmen fighting for extremists." "Our position on that matter was laid bare. Obviously, we differ with the United States on that issue," Lavrov added. Read more

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