Lavrov: The West must unite with Assad in order to fight ISIS

Russia is to continue to provide military and technical assistance to the government of Syria in its fight against terrorists in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview for the program Sunday Times on the First Channel.

"Of course, the supply of arms will be continued. They will inevitably be accompanied by Russian specialists, who help to install the appropriate equipment and train Syrian personnel to use these weapons. There are no secrets,’’ RIA Novosti cites him.

The minister added that Russia would provide Iraq and other states with the same assistance, as they are faced with this evil. "Our military-technical cooperation is aimed at achieving these goals,’’ the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

Commenting on the differences between Russia and the West on the issue of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Lavrov said that Russia's foreign partners are well aware why Moscow supports Damascus. However, they refuse to reconsider their position because of ideological reasons.

At the same time, the West is well aware that the main threat in the Middle East is not from Syrian President Bashar Assad, but the terrorist organization Islamic State. 

"All of our Western partners, without exception, are telling us that they understand what is the main threat in the Middle East and North Africa now. This is not the Assad regime, but Islamic State.’’ If it is recognized, although many speak in a whisper, but they cannot dare to make this statement in public, then they have to implement this fact into action," Lavrov said.

Despite this, the US continues to make statements of categorical rejections of any cooperation with Bashar al-Assad. "Moreover, they say they would welcome the contribution of Russia, or any other country in the fight against Islamic State, as long as it doesn’t strengthen the position of the Syrian President. It is absurd not to support the Syrian army in the fight against Islamic State. If we consider all these possibilities, the most effective military forces are on the ground of Syria,’’ the Foreign Minister stated unequivocally.