Russian, Iranian and Turkish FMs call for end to Syria violence

Doha, Qatar — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that he and the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran had agreed in a meeting in Doha that there had to be an immediate end to “hostilities” in Syria.

The three countries have been involved since 2017 in the so-called Astana format talks seeking a political settlement in Syria.

However, the situation in the country has changed dramatically in recent days after rapid gains by Islamist-led rebel forces who oppose Iran-backed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Lavrov says that he and his counterparts agreed in the meeting in Doha that there had to be an immediate end to “hostilities” in Syria.

Lavrov says Moscow wanted to see dialogue between the Syrian government and what he called the “legitimate opposition” in Syria.

He says the Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham were “terrorists” regardless of whether they said they had changed their views.

It was “inadmissible to allow “terrorist groups” to take control of Syrian lands, said Lavrov.

Asked how the situation in Syria would develop and what would happen to Russian military bases there, Lavrov said he was “not in the business of guessing.”

Lavrov also says that extremism will breed in the Middle East unless a Palestinian state is created.