Alwaght- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia’s timeline given to armed groups in Syria to separate from the internationally-listed al-Nusra Front terrorist group runs out this week.
In an interview with the Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper published on Tuesday, Lavrov said the Russian his country’s air force will start delivering airstrikes against any armed group that does not separate from al-Nusra Front by the deadline.
He explained that the US asked Russia to extend the deadline for a few days before Russia begins the plan it announces before in which all those who haven’t joined the cessation of hostilities agreement become viable targets, and this extension expires this week.
The Russian Foreign Minister blamed the delay in setting a date for the next round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva on the delegation of “Riyadh opposition” group.
Lavrov also asserted that within the first few months of their operations in Syria, the Russian Air Force managed to achieve a shift in the situation on the ground, and that clearly there are those who want to stop or reverse this process.
He added that in a recent phone call with US State Secretary John Kerry, he asked him why the Washington-led alliance practically stopped targeting terrorists in Syria and why it doesn’t do anything to stop the smuggling of oil to Turkey, explaining that Kerry repeated the same excuses based on the flawed logic that claims terrorist locations are intermixed with locations of what the Americans deem “good guys” and therefore they can’t target terrorists.
On another note, Lavrov called on the Turkish regime to apologize for shooting down the Russian fighter over Syrian territories before it talks about normalizing relations.
Meanwhil, Russian Defense Ministry denied the allegations that the Russian Air Force delivered airstrikes on terrorists’ sites in Idleb province.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said the Russian Air Force has not conducted any combat missions or airstrikes in the Idleb province.
Moscow began a campaign of airstrikes against ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria on September 30 last year upon a request by the Syrian government.
A ceasefire agreement in Syria, brokered by Russia and the United States, entered into force on February 27. The Syrian government accepted the terms of the truce on condition that military efforts against ISIS and the al-Nusra Front terrorists, who are excluded from the ceasefire, continue.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the crisis in the Arab country has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people and displaced nearly half of its pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
