Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that Syria must not be allowed to fall into the hands of a “terrorist group” as Islamist-led rebels advance on President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power.
Lavrov spoke after talks in the Gulf state of Qatar with fellow Assad ally Iran and opposition supporter Turkey aimed at preventing Syria from collapsing into chaos after the lightning rebel advances of recent days.
“It’s inadmissible to allow the terrorist group to take control of territory in violation of agreements,” Lavrov said, citing a 2015 UN Security Council Resolution which he said “strongly reiterated sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the Syrian Arab Republic”.
Lavrov was alluding to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist group which has headed the assault and is rooted in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda. HTS has sought to soften its image but remains proscribed as a “terrorist organisation” by Western governments.
Lavrov and Iran’s Abbas Araghchi met Turkey’s Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of the annual Doha Forum for political dialogue.
Araghchi said the three agreed on the need to launch “political dialogue between the Syrian government and legitimate opposition groups”.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said the meeting was “constructive” and it was agreed “the talks in the Astana format would continue” after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hopes neighbouring Syria “finds peace”.
– ‘Urgent political talks’ –
The three countries have been partners since 2017 in the so-called Astana process seeking to end Syria’s civil war that began in 2011.
Despite repeated violations, a 2020 ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey had largely frozen the conflict for several years, but it was blown apart by the shock offensive the rebels launched late last month.
Moscow and Tehran have offered military support to help Assad’s forces hold off the rebels.
Ankara backs some of the rebel groups involved in the offensive and looks favourably on its success so far.
However, the scale of the collapse of Assad’s forces has taken observers by surprise with conflicting reports about how close the rebels have come to Assad’s seat of power.
On Saturday, a rebel commander said “our forces have begun the final phase of encircling the capital”, but the defence ministry said “there is no truth to news claiming” the army has withdrawn from positions near Damascus.
AFP has been unable to independently verify some of the information provided by the government and the rebels, as its journalists in Syria cannot reach the areas around Damascus where the rebels claim to have entered.
Speaking at the same event in Doha, UN special envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen called for calm and “urgent political talks in Geneva to implement Security Council Resolution 2254” of 2015, which set out a roadmap for a negotiated settlement.
– ‘Reconciling’ –
Qatar — which gave early support to the rebels after Assad’s government cracked down on the 2011 uprising — remains a fierce critic of the Syrian leader but is calling for a negotiated end to the fighting.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said Assad had failed to “seize these opportunities” during a period of calm in Syria, both “on the return of the refugees or on reconciling with his own people”.
Ahead of Saturday’s three-way talks, Araghchi said he had “very frank and direct” bilateral meetings with his Turkish counterpart and the ruler of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
Erdogan called on Assad earlier this week to “reconcile with his people”. On Friday he said he hoped the rebel advance would “continue without incident”.
Ahead of the Doha talks, Araghchi met his Iraqi and Syrian counterparts in Baghdad on Friday and warned that the rebel advance poses a “threat” to the whole Middle East.
“This threat will not be limited to Syria and will affect Syria’s neighbouring countries such as Iraq, Jordan and Turkey,” he said.
ach-csp/srm
