MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Russia’s Aerospace Forces, the Syrian government and the armed opposition are prepared to carry out strikes against the positions of the Islamic State terrorist group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said addressing the State Duma on Wednesday.

"In addition to direct contacts between the Syrian government and representatives of the armed opposition, our delegation, which included representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry, also held several direct meetings with representatives of the armed opposition, discussing with them the prospects of joint fight against terrorism in Syria, above all, the IS," he said. "

"That is, the Syrian government, the Russian Aerospace Forces and armed opposition groups are essentially ready to pool efforts and carry out strikes against IS positions in Syria’s regions that are still under their control."

The outcome of Astana talks 

The meeting held in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, is taking all efforts on the Syrian conflict resolution to a new level, Lavrov said.

"The meeting between the Syrian government and armed opposition forces ended yesterday in Astana, with Russia, Turkey and Iran as guarantors and the UN secretary general’s special envoy on Syria and US ambassador as observers. The meeting ended with the adoption of a document. I think that its results are very important and take all efforts to a new level," Lavrov has stressed.

The Astana talks will facilitate the intra-Syrian negotiation process with the goal of political settlement of the crisis in line with the UN Security Council’s resolutions, he said.

Russia’s top diplomat noted that Moscow is "stepping up cooperation with Turkey, Iran and other countries of the region to solve the pressing issues of the Syrian crisis." "Thanks to coordinated efforts, first of all through military agencies, Aleppo was liberated from extremists and then a ceasefire regime was established based on the December 29 agreement," he added.

"Efficient fight against terrorism is impossible without stabilization in the Middle East, without an efficient peaceful settlement of many conflicts there, namely in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen," Lavrov stressed.