Russia says no reconciliation with "terrorists" in Idlib

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin on Friday, September 14, Al-Masdar News reports.

The two diplomats discuss a number of topics, including the ongoing situation in Syria’s Idlib province.

According to Lavrov, "there will be no reconciliation offered to the terrorist forces in the Idlib province"; this includes groups like Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham and the Turkestan Islamic Party.

“We along with our Turkish partners are vigorously working on solving the situation in Idlib in a full accordance with the arrangements which were made during the process of creating the de-escalation zone over there. The arrangements entail the announcement of the ceasefire with one crucial exception – terrorists are not included. No reconciliation, no ceasefire regime includes terrorists.”

Lavrov said that Russia will continue to abide by international humanitarian law when conducting military operations in Syria.

“We always stick to International humanitarian law when we conduct operations involving military action. I will remind you that the Russian Federation has a military presence in Syria at the request of its official government, the government of the UN member state, the government which sovereignty as well as the Syrian territorial integrity were confirmed by the UN SC resolutions for many times.”

The Russian Foreign Minister would conclude that his country is still working with Turkey to find a possible settlement in the Idlib Governorate that would avoid any violence.

SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): “Together with our Turkish partners who cooperate in a very constructive manner on this issue we facilitate local arrangements between the units of the moderate opposition and the government forces, the same way as we did in the other de-escalation zones when they existed. We also encourage the creation of humanitarian corridors, safe zones for the civilians.”