Russian Forces' 'Only Aim' in Syria to Help Gov't Fight Extremists

Sputnik News

19:08 16.02.2016(updated 19:09 16.02.2016)

The Russian Aerospace Forces' only aim in Syria is to help the country to fight off Daesh jihadists and other extremists.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Russian Aerospace Forces' only aim in Syria is to help the Syrian government forces, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the patriotic opposition to fight off Daesh jihadists and other extremists, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Tuesday.

'The Russian Aerospace Forces are helping the Syrian army, the Kurdish YPG troops and the Syrian patriotic opposition to repel Islamic State (IS), Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorists. Russian military pilots have never had and never will have any other objectives in Syria,' Zakharova said.

According to the spokeswoman, claims by Washington, later repeated in Paris, London, Riyadh and Ankara, that Moscow has been conducting airstrikes against the 'wrong' targets in Syria and in violation of Munich agreements are surprising.

'It's strange hearing anything about preserving people's lives from countries that bomb hospitals in Afghanistan and supply cluster munitions for striking civilian facilities in Yemen,' Zakharova said, as quoted in a statement on the Foreign Ministry's website.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant groups, such as Daesh, which is prohibited in many countries, including Russia and the United States.

On September 30, Russia's Sukhoi Su-25, Su-24M and Su-34 attack aircraft, with the support of Su-30 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on terrorist positions in Syria at Damascus' request.

On Thursday, a meeting of the International Syria Support Group resulted in the adoption of a final communique that called for humanitarian access to be provided swiftly to all besieged areas in Syria and set a one-week deadline for the implementation of measures to end the hostilities in the country.

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