Indonesia: "Syrian opposition is moving closer towards al-Qaeda" - Lavrov

Indonesia: "Syrian opposition is moving closer towards al-Qaeda" - Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Syrian opposition groups are moving closer towards al-Qaeda in an interview with RT in Indonesia on Tuesday. The Russian Foreign Minister was in Bali to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade summit.

Lavrov said, "the armed groups of the opposition are becoming split more and more. Recently there was news that some thirteen field commanders said that they would not be taking orders from the Free Syrian Army and from the National Coalition, which is the political wing of the Free Syrian Army, as far as I understand. And they would create, what they called a movement to introduce the Sharia law in Syria, and not only in Syria but in the adjacent areas. And then forty more groups said they would be creating an Islamic Front. These people are moving closer to al-Qaeda than to the Free Syrian Army, which is being portrayed as the secular armed opposition. So, the trend is in favor of jihadists, radicals, among those who fight on the ground. And it is not only our conviction — it is the conviction of the Americans — that we canot and must not talk to these people. We can only talk to those who opt for the sovereign, territorially integral, secular, multiethnic, multiconfessional Syria."