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COMMENT BY THE INFORMATION AND PRESS DEPARTMENT OF THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS REGARDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITUATION IN SYRIA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Russian Federation
March 31 2014
The situation in Syria has been characterized lately by the aggravation
of confrontation between government forces and illegal armed formations
(IAFs) attempting to take revenge for the recent series of defeats.
The main confrontations are being observed in the north-west of Syria.
On the 21 March al-Qaeda linked units of Jabhat al-Nusrah and
Ahrar al-Sham, numbering several thousand, attacked the region of
the City of Kasab on the border with Turkey, where the majority
of the population are Armenians. The attack of IAFs (according to
Damascus) with artillery support, including the use of tank guns from
the territory of Turkey, has led to the temporary loss of several
populated areas, including Kasab. Fearing atrocities by terrorists,
the Armenian population from Kasab, Samra, Nabva Al-Mur and nearby
populated areas left their homes and moved to Latakia protected by
Syrian military personnel.
The movement of extremists to Latakia located some 65 km from Kasab,
which also threatened to disrupt the international operation to
remove components of chemical weapons from Syria, was stopped. Syrian
military personnel fought off fights of strategic importance from
militants and in the near future intend to stop the breakthrough of
armed gangs and re-establish control over the Kasab checkpoint on
the border with Turkey.
The occupation of the City of Kasab by militants aroused a resonance
of condemnation from Armenian communities all over the world. A
demonstration near the UN representation was organized in Yerevan,
where they requested an end must be put to the persecution of ethnic
and sectarian minorities by IAFs in Syria.
At the same time, the Armenian authorities thanked the Syrian
authorities for their protection of the Armenian population. The
Armenian national committee of America appealed to the US President
Barack Obama and the US Congress to apply pressure on Ankara to make
it stop assisting militants, who attacked civilians in Kasab.
Extremists continue to terrorize Syrian civilians systematically by
non-electively mortaring cities and populated areas of the country.
Two students died and 15 received injuries of varying severity as a
result of a strike by a mortar shell on a student campus in Damascus.
Five persons became victims of attacks in Homs, six were killed and
nine were injured in neighbourhoods of the capital Dahiat al-Asad,
Harasta, Mezze and Abu-Roumana. Eight inhabitants of Latakia died as
a result of a missile attack.
According to information from Damascus, the practice of illegal trading
of human organs is being spread in territories where the militants
are hosts. The victims of medical traders are usually children.
The mass media also report that the extremists have organized several
training camps for teenagers, where suicide bombers are reared using
these children.
Acts of vandalism and outrage with Christian and Muslim religious
sanctities continue. In the region of Ar-Raqqah, terrorists destroyed
the tombs of Ammar ibn Yasir and Uwais al-Qarani, Companions of the
Prophet Muhammad.
In the context of the implementation of UNSC resolution 2139, we can
note the successful functioning of the joint commission within the
ambit of the SAR Government and the UN. A large shipment of aid was
delivered to Kurdish regions of the country though the Nusaybin -
Al-Qamishli checkpoint on the border with Turkey. The operation to
evacuate those who want to leave the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp
near Damascus is ongoing despite non-stop shooting by militants.
We decisively denounce any terrorist attacks and other crimes against
civilians, including non-elective shooting on Syrian cities and
populated areas by militants. It seems that the purpose of such
triggering of action by extremists is to prevent the renewal of
inter-Syrian negotiations, to deprive Syrians of the opportunity of
political and diplomatic settlement and to disrupt the process of
chemical demilitarization of Syria. Such a scenario is inadmissible.
Russia, for its part, as before, is ready to continue its interaction
with all its partners in the interests of stopping the bloody
internal conflict in the SAR on the basis of the Geneva Communique
of 30 June 2012.
28 March 2014
Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Russian Federation
March 31 2014
The situation in Syria has been characterized lately by the aggravation
of confrontation between government forces and illegal armed formations
(IAFs) attempting to take revenge for the recent series of defeats.
The main confrontations are being observed in the north-west of Syria.
On the 21 March al-Qaeda linked units of Jabhat al-Nusrah and
Ahrar al-Sham, numbering several thousand, attacked the region of
the City of Kasab on the border with Turkey, where the majority
of the population are Armenians. The attack of IAFs (according to
Damascus) with artillery support, including the use of tank guns from
the territory of Turkey, has led to the temporary loss of several
populated areas, including Kasab. Fearing atrocities by terrorists,
the Armenian population from Kasab, Samra, Nabva Al-Mur and nearby
populated areas left their homes and moved to Latakia protected by
Syrian military personnel.
The movement of extremists to Latakia located some 65 km from Kasab,
which also threatened to disrupt the international operation to
remove components of chemical weapons from Syria, was stopped. Syrian
military personnel fought off fights of strategic importance from
militants and in the near future intend to stop the breakthrough of
armed gangs and re-establish control over the Kasab checkpoint on
the border with Turkey.
The occupation of the City of Kasab by militants aroused a resonance
of condemnation from Armenian communities all over the world. A
demonstration near the UN representation was organized in Yerevan,
where they requested an end must be put to the persecution of ethnic
and sectarian minorities by IAFs in Syria.
At the same time, the Armenian authorities thanked the Syrian
authorities for their protection of the Armenian population. The
Armenian national committee of America appealed to the US President
Barack Obama and the US Congress to apply pressure on Ankara to make
it stop assisting militants, who attacked civilians in Kasab.
Extremists continue to terrorize Syrian civilians systematically by
non-electively mortaring cities and populated areas of the country.
Two students died and 15 received injuries of varying severity as a
result of a strike by a mortar shell on a student campus in Damascus.
Five persons became victims of attacks in Homs, six were killed and
nine were injured in neighbourhoods of the capital Dahiat al-Asad,
Harasta, Mezze and Abu-Roumana. Eight inhabitants of Latakia died as
a result of a missile attack.
According to information from Damascus, the practice of illegal trading
of human organs is being spread in territories where the militants
are hosts. The victims of medical traders are usually children.
The mass media also report that the extremists have organized several
training camps for teenagers, where suicide bombers are reared using
these children.
Acts of vandalism and outrage with Christian and Muslim religious
sanctities continue. In the region of Ar-Raqqah, terrorists destroyed
the tombs of Ammar ibn Yasir and Uwais al-Qarani, Companions of the
Prophet Muhammad.
In the context of the implementation of UNSC resolution 2139, we can
note the successful functioning of the joint commission within the
ambit of the SAR Government and the UN. A large shipment of aid was
delivered to Kurdish regions of the country though the Nusaybin -
Al-Qamishli checkpoint on the border with Turkey. The operation to
evacuate those who want to leave the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp
near Damascus is ongoing despite non-stop shooting by militants.
We decisively denounce any terrorist attacks and other crimes against
civilians, including non-elective shooting on Syrian cities and
populated areas by militants. It seems that the purpose of such
triggering of action by extremists is to prevent the renewal of
inter-Syrian negotiations, to deprive Syrians of the opportunity of
political and diplomatic settlement and to disrupt the process of
chemical demilitarization of Syria. Such a scenario is inadmissible.
Russia, for its part, as before, is ready to continue its interaction
with all its partners in the interests of stopping the bloody
internal conflict in the SAR on the basis of the Geneva Communique
of 30 June 2012.
28 March 2014