US mission in Syria insignificant: Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has questioned the effectiveness of the mission of the so-called anti-Daesh US-led coalition in Syria, saying the results of the coalition’s measures are “insignificant.”

“We have very few specifics which could explain what the US is exactly doing in Syria and why the results of so many combat sorties are so insignificant,” Lavrov told Russian channel NTV.

“With, as far as I know, 25,000 sorties they (the US-led air campaign) could have smashed entire Syria to smithereens,” the Russian foreign minister noted.

Since September 2014, the US and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against the purported positions of Takfiri Daesh terrorists inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Lavrov also cast doubt on the objectives of the US-led coalition in Syria, saying the US should make it clear whether it wants to eradicate terrorism in the Arab country or to use terrorists there to achieve its political goals.

“Maybe their stated goal is not entirely sincere? Maybe it is regime change?” Lavrov said.

The Russian official also expressed concern over weapons and munitions being airdropped by US forces to foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants in Syria, warning that the weapons will end up in the hands of terrorists.

“I want to be honest; we barely have any doubt that at least a considerable part of these weapons will fall into the terrorists’ hands,” Lavrov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured below) on Tuesday censured as mindless the United States policies vis-à-vis Syria and Washington's refusal to cooperate with Moscow on ending the crisis in the Arab country.

“We proposed a meeting at the high military-political level in Moscow. I said that we can send a major delegation to Washington to primarily discuss the issues of Syrian settlement, but there is no response so far. We believe that it would be a serious authoritative delegation headed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev,” Putin said.

Russia launched its first airstrikes against Takfiri terrorists in Syria on September 30, hours after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use the air force in the Arab country.

According to the Russian military, all targets of the air raids are chosen based on intelligence gathered by the four participants in the information center.

Daesh, with members from several Western countries, has been active in Iraq and Syria for over a year, committing heinous acts of terror and atrocities against people of different religious and ethnic communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

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