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Russia will not send forces to Syria to fight ISIL: Official

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin

A high-ranking Russian official says his country will not dispatch any military forces to Syria to fight the Takfiri ISIL terrorists in the Arab country.

“This (deployment of troops) isn’t being discussed in any way. This issue isn’t on the agenda,” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.

He added that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has never asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to send troops to Syria to battle ISIL.

Earlier on Tuesday, Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov, the commander of Russian airborne troops, had said that his forces were eager to help Syria in countering terrorism.

“Of course, we will execute the decisions set forth by the country’s leadership if there is a task at hand,” he had said.

A soldier from the Syrian government forces looks at the bodies of ISIL terrorists in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on July 4, 2015. (AFP photo)

 

US plans & Russian concerns

Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed as “counter-productive” an announcement by Washington that it could take extra measures to defend US-allied militants in Syria. Lavrov expressed serious concern about the crisis in the Arab country.

“We are seriously concerned about the continuing crisis in Syria and the humanitarian disaster that has broken out in the country, and are in favor of an immediate end to external intervention in the Syrian crisis,” Lavrov said on Monday.

Peskov, the presidential spokesman, also criticized the US over its plans in Syria, saying they could further escalate the chaotic situation in the Arab country, and would seriously hamper the Damascus government’s ability to fight ISIL.

Syria has been facing a massive foreign-sponsored militancy for the past four years. The conflict has reportedly killed an estimated 230,000 people so far, including nearly 11,500 children.

ISIL has been among the terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country. 


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