Tens of thousands of extremists headed by the Jabhat Fatah al Sham (or Jabhat al-Nusra) terror group, outlawed in Russia, remain in the Syrian province of Idlib, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
CHELYABINSK (RUSSIA) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Tens of thousands of extremists headed by the Jabhat Fatah al Sham (or Jabhat al-Nusra) terror group, outlawed in Russia, remain in the Syrian province of Idlib, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"The only de-escalation zone remains in Idlib where several dozens of thousands extremists are still deployed. They are headed by the Jabhat al-Nusra," Lavrov told Russia's Channel One broadcaster on Tuesday.
The minister pointed out that the Jabhat Fatah al Sham group, which is recognized as a terror group by the United Nations, posed the greatest threat to the stability in Syria.
Lavrov added that Russia as well as Iran were operating in Syria at the direct invitation of Damascus while all the others were acting there illegally.
According to the minister, in dealing with situations in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta Russia has always provided humanitarian corridors and made efforts to reach arrangements with opposition groups which were ready for dialogue.
"When the US-led coalition was retaking control over Raqqa and even earlier over the city of Mosul in Iraq, which was occupied by the Islamic State terrorist group [outlawed in Russia], there were no humanitarian corridors there and no effort to agree with someone about a ceasefire to avoid unnecessary victims," Lavrov said, commenting on a tweet by US President Donald Trump, in which he warned Russia about the need to avoid humanitarian disasters in Syria.
Lavrov added that Russia saw Washington's hidden desire to protect Jabhat Fatah al Sham from Syrian government forces.
"That is why we should not repeat the mistakes of the administration of [former President Barack] Obama, which promised and took an obligation to separate the moderate opposition and Jabhat al-Nusra, and failed to do so. Now we are witnessing the same hidden desire, if I understand the situation correctly, to take the heat off Jabhat al-Nusra," Lavrov stressed.
Idlib province is one of Syria's de-escalation zones and a remaining stronghold of the insurgency in the country. The situation in the province has recently escalated with Moscow and Damascus suggesting that militants are planning to stage a false-flag chemical attack against civilians there to frame the Syrian government. On Monday, US President Donald Trump called on the Syrian government as well as Russia and Iran to prevent the Syrian army's possible offensive in Idlib.
