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Russia worried about situations in Syria, Iraq

Xinhua, December 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed its concern over reports on U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against Syrian government troops and civilian targets, as well as presence of Turkish military in Iraq.

Four coalition warplanes had fired nine missiles at a Syrian military camp in eastern Deir al-Zour province, killing three soldiers and wounding 13 others, according to the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

The Russian ministry said that another coalition's attack against wrong targets in Syria's northeastern province of al-Hasakah also led to "significant civilian casualties."

"In general, these incidents indicate that the situation at the battlefield fight against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq is heating up," the ministry said in an online statement.

Russia has been launching its own strikes against Syrian terrorists at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since Sept. 30, repeatedly denying allegations that its attacks were aimed at Syrian opposition or civilian targets.

The Russian ministry also accused Turkey of deploying troops near the Iraqi city of Mosul, saying the action is "an additional and very serious source of tension."

"They have arrived without a proper request or the approval of the legitimate Iraqi government. We regard such a presence as inadmissible," said the Russian ministry in a statement.

Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday confirmed a commando battalion was sent to Bashiqa military camp near Mosul in northern Iraq due to increasing clashes with the IS. According to it, Turkey has deployed troops to Iraq since 2014 and the training mission in Bashiqa camps has been carried on since March to defeat IS in Iraq.

The Iraqi government on Sunday gave Turkish troops 48 hours to leave, warning actions would be taken to safeguard its national sovereignty after that.

In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was premature to hold a new round of Syria international talks in New York on Dec. 18, citing reasons including no lists being compiled of terrorist organizations operating in Syria and those who could send representatives to intra-Syrian talks as agreed at the previous meeting held in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 14.

"As long as this 'homework' undertaken by participants of the talks is not done, it would be counterproductive, as we see it, to convene the ministerial meeting," Zakharova said.

Parties met in the previous two rounds of meetings, held in Vienna in late October and mid-November, to seek a roadmap to end the nearly five-year war in Syria that has killed 250,000 people and triggered a refugee crisis in Middle East and Europe. They agreed to hold the next round of meeting in New York on Dec. 18.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that "member states are very closely coordinating" to open a new round of Syria international talks in New York as scheduled. Endit