Alwaght- Creation of any no-fly zone over the Syrian city of Aleppo will protect the al-Nusra Front terrorists, the Italian former foreign minister, Franco Frattini told Russian RT news agency on Sunday.
"It was a mistake from the Western coalition in not highlighting the distinction between the so-called moderate rebels and… al-Nusra,” Frattini, who has also served as European Commissioner for Justice, said.
The Italian diplomat said al-Nusra Front terrorists should be the target of international airstrikes together with ISIS.
Frattini further stressed that the US was pandering to the interests of its Arab allies in not separating al-Nusra terrorists.
"It’s not mainly the US interest. It’s the interest of Gulf Sunni states that are behind Sunni jihadists… Saudi Arabia is supporting jihadists, providing weapons. And Saudi Arabia is historically an ally of the US,” he said.
"Sunni states in the Gulf want to liberate Damascus from Syrian President Bashar Assad and all the Shiite that are there, not to liberate eastern Aleppo from terrorists,” Frattini added.
"I’m completely convinced that if this point is overcome, the solution [to the Syrian crisis] will be found,” he said.
The recent resolution draft on Syria, proposed by the French government to the UN Security Council, called for a no fly zone to be imposed on Aleppo. Russia vetoed the resolution.
Frattini rejected the idea of no-fly zone and said “Let’s not talk simply about the no-fly zone. I know very well the story of the no-fly zone in Libya. But now a no-fly zone in an area al-Nusra [controls], will be protecting an al-Qaeda-affiliated group."
The Italian former minister also rejected claims by the US that the so-called moderate opposition groups are not separable from al-Nusra terrorists and said “it is possible to separate al-Nusra from moderate rebels because al-Nusra occupy some well-determined areas of eastern Aleppo” and modern military technologies “allow [us] to target particularly small areas where terrorists are without hitting innocent civilians".
