Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Moscow to take steps if ISIS/ISIL moves from Mosul to Syria — Lavrov

Moscow will take military measures should militants of the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia as a terrorist organization - TASS) move from Mosul to Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.


"Mosul is a large city with a civilian population of 1.5 million, if not more," Lavrov said. "We keep an eye on this operation, of course, because all of us are interested in defeating the so-called Islamic State."

"The city is surrounded, but not completely. I do not know why. Possibly, they’ve just failed," Lavrov said. "It is to be hoped they just failed, and not were reluctant to do so."

"Anyway, the remaining corridor is fraught with the risk the Islamic State may move from Iraq’s Mosul to Syria," he said. "Of course, we will keep an eye on the situation and take both political and military decisions, if that happens, if in Syria, where our military group is present at the request of the legitimate government, there will emerge more Islamic State contingents."

"The operation will not be an easy one. It envisages, like in Aleppo, airstrikes and actions of land forces, and there are a lot of land forces there. And it is of major importance for the regional layout that there is rivalry there about whose land forces will take Mosul," he said.

According to the Russian top diplomat, it is yet unclear whether the Iraqi army’s Shia units are taking part in this operation and what is the role of the Kurd militias and Turkey. "As you know, Turkish troops are deployed there and the Iraqi government is protesting against that," Lavrov noted.

"Moreover, there are 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq who are referred to by Washington as ‘advisers.’ Anyway, 5,000 ‘advisers’ are a big force," he said.

Moscow hopes that "the US-led coalition involved in the operation to storm Mosul will pay attention to this."

"According to some estimates made by UN representatives in Geneva and New York, the number of refugees from among civilians may vary in a broad range - from 200,000 to almost half a million people, 900,000 people," the foreign minister said.

"No adequate capacities exist either in Iraq or neighboring Syria or other neighboring countries to receive such a number of refugees," Lavrov said.

"I hope that all this has been calculated by those who prepared the operation. But still a lot of questions remain," the Russian foreign minister said.........More: http://tass.com/politics/907073
18/10/16

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