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Syrian UN envoy says Russians who joined IS not to come back

"We’ll bury them here. We’ll not return this garbage to you. We promise," Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari told TASS

UNITED NATIONS, October 9. /TASS/. Syria promises that the people of Russian descent who joined the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group will not come back, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari told TASS on Thursday.

"We’ll bury them here. We’ll not return this garbage to you. We promise," he said. According to the diplomat, the Syrian army with the Russian aviation support is currently establishing order around the city of Hama. "It is located near Idlib," Jaafari said.

He said he was certain that the Syrian army would be able to keep the liberated territories, but agreed that much would depend on how seriously the authorities of neighbouring countries, including Turkey, will be preventing the infiltration of extremists into Syria.

Islamic State is an organization outlawed in a number of countries, including Russia. Russian aircraft since September 30 are making pinpoint strikes on the Islamists’ facilities in Syria based on the mandate given by the Federation Council upper house of parliament.

In May, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that about 25,000 militants from 100 countries were fighting on the side of the IS and Jabhat al-Nusra groups. The latest report of the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee says that ethnic Chechens from the Russian Federation are among "senior commanders" of both radical organizations.

On September 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would do everything to prevent the return back home of the people of Russian descent who joined IS. "The main risk in this situation is that the militants the number of which has reached thousands, including those coming from Russia — they will return to do their black deeds in our country. We want to avoid these risks by all means, and I’m sure that we’ll succeed," he said.

On Thursday, IS militants were liquidated in Grozny. Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said they were preparing "major terrorist attacks." "This will be done to anyone who even thinks of plotting something against the [Chechen] republic and Russia in general," he told reporters. According to Kadyrov, the extremists have come from Syria, they underwent training at IS bases there and were involved in staging terror acts.