Syria Resolution Should Call for Separation of Terrorists, Opposition – Moscow

The Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated the need to separate a so-called moderate opposition from terrorists in Syria.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A draft UN resolution on the humanitarian situation in Syria should include a point on the necessity to separate terrorist groups from the so-called moderate opposition, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

“It was confirmed by the Russian side that a text of this document should clearly indicate the need to separate a so-called moderate opposition from terrorist groups,” the ministry's statement read.

It is also crucial that resolution points out that “the ceasefire regime does not apply to these groups,” according to the statement.

The statement was made during a meeting on Friday of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov with Spanish Ambassador to Russia Jose Ignacio Carbajal and Charge d’Affaires ad interim of the Permanent Mission of New Zealand to Russia Cecilia Warren. The sides exchanged views on the resolution project on humanitarian situation in Syria, co-authored by Madrid and Wellington.

Moscow maintains that failure of the United States to separate opposition groups from terrorists in Syria hampers the implementation of Russia-US agreements as of September 9 on addressing the situation in the Arab country.

As part of the so-called Arab Spring, protests in Syria that took place in 2011 resulted in clashes between the government forces and opposition. Since then, the Middle Eastern country has been mired in a war, which involves Damascus forces, numerous opposition factions, as well as terrorist groups, including Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al Sham (formerly known as  al-Nusra Front), which are prohibited in many countries, including Russia.