Alwaght- Russia says international terrorism remains the main danger which is facing the world and that Syria is on top of the countries which are fighting the ISIS terrorist group.
Sergei Shoigu made the remarks at the opening of the VI Moscow Conference on International Security, which is being held with the participation of 58 states.
Shoigu said no front for combating terrorism has been formed up till now in a time when the expansion of terrorism is increasing.
He indicated that there is a pressing need for cooperation between Moscow and Washington in Syria, yet the “US doesn’t understand that."
Shoigu added that the US aggression on Syria was a threat to the Russian forces there and additional security measures should be taken, affirming the necessity of setting a comprehensive strategy for the joint work with the aim of eliminating terrorism in Syria.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for forming a broad international alliance for combating terrorism, indicating that adopting double standards by some states prevents forming such an alliance.
Lavrov said that the US aggression against Syria delays the prospects of forming a broad front for combating terrorism.
He also called for preventing the spread of the ideology of terrorism and extremism in the world and imposing economic and trade embargo on ISIS, affirming that at the current time terrorism has taken dimensions which we have never seen before, adding “we are witnessing an escalation of tension on the international and regional levels".
Russia's successful anti-terrorism operation in Syria
Meanwhile, Russian General Staff announced that the Russian Aerospace Forces have conducted more than 23,000 sorties and carried out around 77,000 airstrikes since the start of its operation against terrorism in Syria.
In a speech delivered at the Conference, Chief of the Main Operations Department of the Russian General Staff Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoy said that the Syrian army managed, with the support of Russian troops, to eliminate about 7,000 terrorists near Hama, most of them are members of al-Nusra Front terrorist organization.
He pointed out that the Syrian army has managed this year to eliminate a large group of ISIS terrorists in northern Aleppo and is still developing its operations to uproot the ISIS from the northeast of the city.
Rudskoy added that the life in Aleppo city is returning to normal in rapid steps after the restoration of security and stability to it at the end of 2016, after the withdrawal of about 30,000 gunmen and some members of their families, noting that about 6,500 gunmen have laid down their arms voluntarily.
He affirmed that Russian Special Forces play a pivotal role in the liquidation of the terrorist leaders in Syria and the destruction of their main facilities, as they contributed to restoring the control over the city of Palmyra by the Syrian army after the Syrian forces dealt fatal blow to ISIS terrorists in this direction.
"The number of terrorists has decreased, which allowed us to withdraw almost half of the aircraft based at the Hmeimim airbase,” he said, adding that Russia is operating about 80 drones in Syria.
Anti-terrorism operations should not violate sovereignty
Meanwhile, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said at the VI Moscow Conference on International Security that anti-terrorism efforts should not serve as an excuse to pressure sovereign states. He added that, "military intervention in the affairs of states that effectively resist terrorism is inadmissible."
The practice of "information aggression" carried out by certain countries poses a threat to international security, Patrushev said.
"Acts of information aggression on the part of individual countries constitute a special threat to international security," Patrushev said.
On April 7, the US launched an illegal aggression on Syria by firing 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Shayrat. US President Donald Trump said that the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib province on April 4, which resulted in the death of over 80 people, an incident which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
The Syrian foreign minister denied the government’s involvement in the Idlib incident, saying it had never nor would it ever use chemical weapons on either civilians or terrorists operating in the country. The US attack on Syria was condemned and termed as violation of international laws by several countries.
