Lavrov Warned About US Plans for Syria

Russia is watching with alarm the attempts of the United States to implement its plans for sharing Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the opening of a conference at the international discussion club "Valday", quoted by TASS.

In front of the forum "Russia in the Middle East: Playing All Fields," Lavrov explained that these fears are due to US operations in the vast Syrian territory east of the Euphrates River to the borders with Iraq and Turkey. Moscow's first diplomat has urged the US side not to play with fire and to carefully consider its moves, not from political conjuncture but from the long-term interests of the Syrian people.

Lavrov described as speculation media reports about the death of hundreds of Russian mercenaries in the Syrian war.

He suggested the incident with the unmanned airplane at the Syrian-Israeli border be discussed only through UN mechanisms. In the words of the Russian minister, the international community must create the conditions for a direct dialogue between the Palestinians and Israel because there is no other way to settle the conflict between them.

In his speech, Lavrov touched on several Middle Eastern themes, expressing Moscow's conviction that the legitimate interests of the Iraqi Kurds should be protected, called for an end to the fighting in Yemen between government forces and Shi'ite rebels, and expressed Russia's disagreement with appeals for annihilation of Israel, as well as calls for fighting Iran.

Speaking to the forum, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif noted that there is "a new wave of occupation, of foreign intervention, mainly from the US, in Syria." A meeting between Lavrov and Zarif is scheduled to discuss the nuclear deal with Iran and the situation in...