Lavrov
© Lucas Jackson / Reuters
Russia will "no longer take seriously" requests that its own or Syrian forces make unilateral concessions regarding the ceasefire, without the Western coalition providing proof it's trying to separate moderates from terrorists, the foreign minister said.

In an extensive interview with Russia TV's Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday), Sergey Lavrov reiterated that "the revival of the ceasefire is possible exclusively on collective basis." If the US and its coalition partners fail to provide credible proof that they have "a sincere intention" to dissociate terrorists from the so-called moderate opposition "our suspicions that this all is being done to take the heat off Al-Nusra Front will strengthen."

The events of the past few days, however, showed the reverse trend, as more rebel groups started merging with Al-Nusra Front, Lavrov said, citing a statement from Russia's General Staff.


Comment: Lavrov is essentially saying there will be no more ceasefire agreements. Because by now it is clear that the U.S. will not and cannot separate out the "moderates". Syrians have known it for years, but now it's out in the open.


One of such radical groups close to Al-Nusra Front is Ahrar Al-Sham, which refused to adhere to the Russia-US agreement as the deal targets its ally, Lavrov said. Russia has been demanding it be designated terrorist for a long time, to little effect.

"If everything again boils down to asking Russia's and Syria's Air Forces to take unilateral steps - such as, 'Give us another three- or four-day pause and after that we will persuade all opposition groups that this is serious and that they must cut ties with Al-Nusra Front' - such talk will not be taken seriously by us anymore," the Russian FM said.


Comment: Syria's UN Ambassador Jaafari told RT:
"This is nonsense ... American diplomats, as well as military, are trying to justify their wrongdoings in Deir ez-Zor," Jaafari told RT. "They [the US] are trying to create a parallel between their own big mistake when they bombed Syrian military positions, by pretending that the Russians did the same bombing the humanitarian convoy. Which is not true, by the way, because there are no holes on the ground; the convoy was not bombed." According to Jaafari, who is the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN, Syria is conducting its own investigation of the convoy attack and will provide its findings to the UN.

Jaafari harshly criticized what he said was a US inability to broker an agreement on Syria which could last. He said US officials have been "pretending that they cannot separate the terrorists of Al-Nusra Front from the other so-called moderate opposition," calling it a lack of "political will."

The "American administration is not a genuine broker and they do not have the will to respect the terms of reference of their own agreement with the Russians. Washington was not even able to respect the terms of reference for seven days,"said Jaafari. "This is ridiculous. If you cannot separate these terrorists from those terrorists, then don't pretend that you want to make a secession of hostilities decision."
...
"They are coming to kill our own people with Saudi money, Turkish training, American backing, Qatari money, etc. So enough is enough, the mask has fallen and we are fed up," he said. "We are not doing anything wrong, we are defending our country by all the means, legal means."

He noted that previous US-Russia-brokered short-term ceasefires around Aleppo did not live up to expectations and proved detrimental to peace efforts, as the 48-hour and 72-hour temporary truces were "used to back up the jihadists, including, Al-Nusra Front fighters, with manpower, food and weapons supplies."

For its part, Russia has been open about its work with the Syrian government to ensure its compliance with the US-Russia brokered Geneva deal.

On Monday, it submitted an interview with Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy, chief of the main operations department of the Russian General Staff, to the UN Security Council, in which he outlines the concrete measures Russia made to secure the deal, Lavrov noted.

Speaking about the US airstrike on Syrian armed forces near Deir ez-Zor, that left 62 troops dead and over 100 injured, Lavrov cast doubt on Washington's assurance that the Syrian government positions were targeted purely by mistake.

It is "very hard to believe that reconnaissance officers of the US-founded coalition that is fighting Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS] on the whole Syrian territory could forget about who is located where," he said.

"The situation in Deir ez-Zor, contrary to the situation in Aleppo, where the line of contact is constantly changing, has been stable over two years already. The Syrian troops have been besieged by IS there," he added, calling the circumstances surrounding the attack "a bit strange."


Comment: Syrian FM Muallem revealed the official Syrian response to the attack on Deir ez-Zor at the UNGA:
"The Syrian government puts all the responsibility for aggression on the US, as the facts show, that it was a deliberate attack, but not a mistake - even if America says the opposite," Muallem said during a general debate at the 71st Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "This vile aggression proves that the US and its allies are accomplices of Islamic State and other terror groups," he stressed.
...
The diplomat again slammed the "Turkish incursion into Syrian territories under the pretext of countering terrorism. This is a flagrant aggression and must be stopped immediately."
He also slammed Qatar and Saudi Arabia:
It is no longer a secret that Qatar and Saudi Arabia have played a part in this [spreading terrorism], promoting their Wahabist Takfirist ideology and their death fatwas that have nothing to do with Islam. They have bragged about supporting terrorism in every way... Meanwhile, Turkey has opened its border to let in tens of thousands of terrorists from all around the world and has provided them with logistical support and training camps under the supervision of Turkish and Western intelligence.

Lavrov also confirmed that Washington offered its apologies to Syria's President Bashar Assad via Russia.

The Russian FM has once again denied Russia or Syria's complicity in the attack on UN-backed Red Crescent convoy in eastern Aleppo on Monday.

Russia had already submitted drone footage and other evidence to the UN as part of the investigation into the incident that resulted in death of 20 civilians and one aid worker.

"Russian aviation was not working there. Syrian aviation could not work there either, as the attack on the convoy occurred at night, and the Syrian Air Force does not fly at that time, they do not have such capacities," Lavrov stated, citing the Russian Defense Ministry's statements.

The "easiest way" and "the first necessary step" to determine who is responsible for the atrocity would be to uncover weapons that hit the convoy and present them, he suggested.

At the same time, Lavrov recalled the repeated "direct, open and unambiguous" threats to humanitarian convoys from rebels maintaining control over the Castello road that have on many occasions impeded essential supplies accessing heavily stricken areas of Aleppo.