Alwaght- Russia says it is in full compliance of obligations to maintain Syria truce and is tired of truce violations by ‘opposition’ under United States control
The chief of Russia’s General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, has told reporters on Monday that, “It is Russia’s patience - and not the United States’ - that is waning over the situation in Syria.”
Earlier, US Secretary of State, John Kerry said that while the Syrian President, Bashar Assad and Russia were demanding strict compliance with ceasefire in the whole territory of Syria, the Syrian government troops were pushing ahead with their operation to recapture Aleppo. He remarked that Russia should be aware that patience on Assad’s Syria was wearing thin.
"If anyone’s patience on Syria is waning, it is our patience, not the United States’. We are in full compliance with our obligations to maintain ceasefire and ensure national reconciliation in Syria. In the meantime, the American side always has problems with the ‘opposition under its control," Gerasimov said.
"Whenever we hear claims from the Pentagon we use communication lines not professionally, it gets clear that they are either ignorant of the existing channels of interaction or get wrong information," Gerasimov said. He pointed to the Russian-US rapid reaction center in Geneva and the hot line for the prevention of incidents in the airspace over Syria.
At the same time Gerasimov recalled that the Russian Defense Ministry had for three months supplied the United States with the locations of ISIS and al-Nusra Front targets, but the "US partners are still undecided whether there are opposition forces and where there are ‘turncoats’ from international terrorist organizations."
"As a result terrorists in Syria actively regain strength and tensions soar again. It cannot continue this way indefinitely," Grasimov said.
"In their opinion, missile bombardments of Syrian government troops and communities by militants should be considered by all as ‘insignificant violations’ of the ceasefire. But any proportionate response to the militants by the Syrian military are at once declared as disproportionate strikes on the opposition," Gerasimov said.
The ceasefire regime took effect in Syria on February 27 2016. Shortly before that (December 18, 2015), the UN Security Council adopted a resolution supporting a cessation of hostilities. The document drafted by Russia and the United States was backed by all 15 Security Council member states. The ceasefire regime does not cover the ISIS and al-Nusra Front terrorist groups.
The militant groups have had a lot of time to decide if they wanted to join the regime of ceasefire or not. Many of them have decided not to comply. The United States has failed to separate the moderate opposition units it controls from terrorists. The Syrian border with Turkey is still being used to smuggle weapons to terrorists in Syria.
Russia has fulfilled its obligations according to the agreement reached with the US in early May.
The US and some of its Arab allies have been conducting airstrikes against alleged ISIS position in Syria since September 2014. The strikes have not been effective at all in eliminating the terrorists. This is while in September 2015, Russian air force launched its operations against ISIS and other terrorist groups following a request by the Syrian government. The Russian military air force has been very successful in assisting the Syrian army to considerably weaken Takfiri terrorists in the country.
Last week, Russia's foreign minister said that he believes the US may hope to use Al Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria to unseat Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's government.
Addressing an economic forum in St Petersburg, Sergey Lavrov argued that the reluctance of US-backed Syrian opposition groups to distance themselves from al-Nusra Front, has been a major reason behind continuing fighting.
He said the US could be "playing some kind of game here, and they may want to keep al-Nusra in some form and use it to topple the Syrian government."
Mr Lavrov added that he raised the issue in a recent phone conversation with US secretary of state John Kerry, who he said denied any such plans. "But why then the Americans with all their potential can't force the units they have been working with to leave the territories controlled by bandits and terrorists," he said.
Russia at some point issued an ultimatum for opposition units to leave Nusra-controlled areas or face air strikes, but later agreed to give more time for them to pull out. Spared the Russian strikes, al-Nusra Front has used the moment to replenish its supplies and receive reinforcements, Mr Lavrov said.
It is clear that the US has failed to compel militants and terrorists under its control in Syria to comply with the ceasefire regime. The US ally Turkey continues to support terrorist groups in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria. To a large extent, Washington is responsible for the consequences. With the peace process stalled and ceasefire breached by US-backed terrorist groups, Russia’s patience is clearly running out.
