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Fight against Islamic state

Damascus is ready to support idea of international coalition against IS — Moualem

Moualem thanked Lavrov for the invitation to come to Moscow and expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin "for having received the Syrian delegation in the Kremlin"

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

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MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Damascus is ready to support the idea of establishing an international coalition to combat the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group with the participation of the United States and Turkey, but it’s a challenging task, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moualem said on Monday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Moualem thanked Lavrov for the invitation to come to Moscow and expressed gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin "for having received the Syrian delegation in the Kremlin and giving a possibility to discuss the situation in Syria and in the region."

"I listened attentively to President Putin when he was saying that an international coalition was needed to address terrorist threats," he said. "I know very well that President Putin has managed to do real miracles. But a greater miracle is needed to knock together a coalition with the participation of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Qatar, because these countries, instead of combating terrorism, have been encouraging it."

"Nevertheless, we would like to pool efforts," Moualen said. "We already have a vast positive experience. I would like to draw special attention to the experience in the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons, which was done at Putin’s initiative."

He also said he was "thankful to the Russian side for its pledged that Moscow will help Syria in the political, economic and defence spheres."

"Before the meeting with President Putin, we had very fruitful talks with [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergei Lavrov. We discussed the situation in Syria and in the entire region. The talks focused on ways to reach a political settlement of the Syrian crisis," the Syrian foreign minister said, adding that the Syrian side was "thankful to the Russian friends for organizing two rounds of intra-Syrian meetings in Moscow."

"We hope a third such meeting will finally be organized and it will be the best basis for success of the third Geneva meeting. On behalf of my friend Lavrov, I call on [UN Special Envoy for Syria] Staffan de Mistura to take part in the third Moscow round of talks," he said.

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Syria Islamic State

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