Lavrov: Russia to Continue Supplying Weapons to Syria in Fight Against Terrorism

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow will continue its supplies of military equipment to the Syrian government in the fight against terrorist groups.

Lavrov said this in a news conference on Friday, TASS news agency informs.

The Russian foreign minister explained that Russian servicemen and military experts are stationed in Syria in order to service the Russian equipment and assist the Syrian army in using the equipment.

Lavrov called on the US-led international coalition against Islamic State (IS) to start cooperation with the Syrian government and army.

He reminded that Russia had initially urged for collective work based on international law in spheres such as fighting terrorism.

However the coalition was created unilaterally without the approval of the UN Security Council and without the involvement of Syria.

Russia had already warned that the exclusion of Syria will lead to difficulties and complications.

Lavrov added that coordination is vital in ensuring the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism and is important in preventing different unintentional incidents.

In his words, IS can not be defeated only by airstrikes and cooperation with ground forces is necessary.

He identified the Syrian army as the most effective and powerful ground force capable of fighting IS.

According to him, several European countries are considering possible cooperation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Lavrov expressed the opinion that if the priority was fighting terrorism, then change of the regime in Syria should be postponed.

He reminded that previous attempts to change regimes in the region, in particular in Iraq and Libya, resulted in the emergence of terrorist groups...