MOSCOW, December 15, 2:09 /ITAR-TASS/. The Syrian government and patriotic opposition forces should forge a combat capable alliance against terrorists who have flown into Syria from all parts of the world to realize their malicious plans, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Russia-24 TV Channel on Saturday.
“Now that 18 months have passed since the Geneva Communique was adopted and an initiative to convene an international conference was put forward a bit less than a year ago, many of our interlocutors, including from Western countries, openly say in their confidential conversations with us that they do not believe that Bashar al-Assad’s regime is the main threat, what has been a public belief until recently. A real threat is coming from Jihad fighters who are trying to seize Syria and other vast territories in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Perhaps, this is the biggest problem at the moment,” the Russian foreign minister told Russia-24.
“When we discuss the current affairs linked to the international conference and its agenda with our western partners, we invariably take this problem to the forefront. We talk about what should be done to build a combat effective alliance of the government and patriotic opposition forces to withstand foreign terrorists who have flown into Syria, like to a sweet spot, from all parts of the world to realize their malicious plans,” Lavrov emphasised.
“In fact, the statistics is making more obvious the fact that Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as well as other groups are simply ‘squabbling’ with each other. The clash with each other and seize populated localities,” Lavrov went on to say.
“Thus, conditions are ripening for all Syrian patriots to understand what is more important to them: to fight on the side of those who want to turn Syria into a Caliphate or to unite and return their homeland an image for which it was famous for centuries: a multi-confessional, multi-ethnic and secular state in which everybody lives comfortably. This theme is going to be one of the main items on the agenda of the Geneva conference,” Lavrov said.