Separate Syria ‘rebels’ from terrorists – Lavrov
September 24, 2016, 3:14 pm

Lavrov told the press at the UNGA that Washington’s position on Syria is undermining global stability [Xinhua]

“It is fundamentally important to meet the United Nations Security Council requirement to separate the so-called moderate opposition from terrorists. The United States and members of the US-led coalition bear special responsibility for this process,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov’s statement comes amid a tense week for Russian-US diplomacy over Syria, escpecially in the wake of the attack on an aid convoy which killed 21 relief workers.

The two countries traded terse words in a blame game as the one-week old Syrian ceasefire appeared to fall apart.

“The refusal or inability to do that under the current circumstances cannot but strengthen suspicion that some wants to protect Jabhat al-Nusra and the regime change plans still exist, which is the grossest violation of the UN Security Council resolution,” Lavrov told delegates.

In a television interview with Russian media, Lavrov said that some rebel factions allied with Jabhat Al Nusra (Nusra Front), the Al-Qaeda allied Islamist group, since the ceasefire.

He also said that ceasefires in the past have been used to rearm, resupply, and regroup anti-government Islamist groups.

Meanwhile, medical sources in Aleppo said that hundreds of people had been killed and wounded in three days of intensified aerial bombardment of rebel-held areas of the city and rebel shelling of government-held districts.

A vital water station was apparently damaged, threatening to cut off clean water to hundreds of thousands of people in the city.

On Saturday, the Syrian army said its forces had started to retake parts of Aleppo in a massive offensive against the city.

Read more: Russia, US trade barbs in Syria blame game

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies