Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 17, 2014
Foreign Intervention Still a Threat to Syria – Lavrov
MOSCOW: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that attempts are continuing to prepare the grounds for a military intervention in war-torn Syria.
“Attempts are made, including through UN mechanisms, to build up tension around the humanitarian situation in Syria in order to create another pretext to push forward the idea of so-called humanitarian corridors, no-fly zones and, eventually, to justify a humanitarian intervention,” Lavrov said.
The minister, who spoke to journalists after a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moallem, did not specify the forces behind the alleged policy in Syria.
But Moallem directly accused the United States of fostering terrorism in his country.
Syria narrowly avoided US airstrikes after its government was accused last August of using chemical weapons against civilians. President Bashar Assad denied the allegation and blamed the attack on rebel forces fighting to overthrow his regime.
The situation was defused after Russia proposed instead to dismantle Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal under international control, a plan that is now in progress.
Moallem also said that foreign-backed terrorists are targeting civil infrastructure throughout the country, though he did not specify the backers in this case.
The Syrian government is currently shipping humanitarian aid to a number of provinces in cooperation with the UN, Moallem added.
The UN estimates that almost 13 million Syrians have been displaced or otherwise affected by the hostilities out of a total population of 20 million.
An international donation drive for relief in Syria raised $2.4 billion earlier this week.
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