29-03-2024 02:52 AM Jerusalem Timing

Lavrov: Campaign to Continue in Syria until ’Terrorist Organizations’ Defeated

Lavrov: Campaign to Continue in Syria until ’Terrorist Organizations’ Defeated

Russian Foreign Minister said Wednesday it would press ahead with its bombing campaign in Syria until "terrorist organizations" are defeated amid the latest international push to end the crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey LavrovRussian Foreign Minister said Wednesday it would press ahead with its bombing campaign in Syria until "terrorist organizations" such as the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) and other takfiri groups are defeated amid the latest international push to end the crisis.

"Russian air strikes will not cease until we truly defeat the terrorist organizations ISIL and al-Nusra Front," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Oman, Interfax news agency reported.

"And I don't see why these air strikes should stop."

Lavrov also named as a condition for halting Russia's bombing campaign in Syria "shutting down smuggling across the Turkish-Syrian border."

Russia accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of helping ISIL through illegal oil trading, claims Ankara has strongly denied.

The Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee has voiced outrage at an ongoing government offensive backed by Russian air power and called for a halt to air strikes against terrorist groups, among other demands.

Lavrov slammed "capricious people" in the Syrian opposition delegation, saying they were "starting to put forward preconditions" that had not been previously agreed, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The opposition delegation's demands "have nothing to do with the main principles of the Geneva Communiqué, Vienna documents and a United Nations Security Council resolution," Lavrov said, referring to key documents in the Syrian peace process.

"I think that expecting preconditions in the form of ultimatums will help solve problems is a short-sighted and futile policy," Lavrov said, quoted by Interfax.

He also criticized Turkey's role, saying it "single-handedly prevented" the powerful Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party from joining the talks.

In a message apparently aimed at Western powers, Lavrov said he hoped "those with decisive influence" on the Syrian opposition would work to "ensure the start of the intra-Syrian dialogue without preconditions."