Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's talks in Moscow on September 13 were very successful. Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad told reporters on Thursday.
"As you know, the Syrian president made a very important visit to Moscow. It was a very successful visit," he said.
"The main principles of our cooperation have been formalized. Now with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov (on the margins of the UN General Assembly - TASS), we discussed how to implement these different areas of coordination between the two countries," Mekdad said.
According to him, Syria and Russia believe that US forces should be withdrawn from the territory of the Arab republic as soon as possible.
"Syria and Russia believe that the presence of American forces on Syrian territory is illegal and must stop as soon as possible," the minister said. - "Otherwise the withdrawal will be repeated as in Afghanistan - in Syria or elsewhere."
On Syria's Constitutional committee meeting
The next meeting of Syria's Constitutional committee will be held in Geneva in the near future, the republic's foreign minister said.
"I have very good news that this meeting will be held very soon," he said, referring to the relevant issue.
At the same time, the minister did not disclose the exact date of the event. According to him, the UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is expected to announce the date.
The previous session of the small group of the Syrian Constitutional committee was held in Geneva in January of this year.
On sending Turkish forces to Syria
Turkey must end its occupation of Syria, Mekdad said, commenting on reports of additional Turkish forces being sent to the Arab republic.
"They (the Turks) must end their occupation. Their actions must comply with the resolutions and decisions [of the Syrian settlement process] in the Astana format. But we see that they are doing the opposite," the minister said.
In addition, the foreign minister said that Turkish authorities are cooperating with terrorist groups and are trying to worsen the situation in northwestern Syria through their actions. "These [Turkish] forces are helping terrorist organizations to continue the Syrian conflict. Turkey supports the terrorist groups Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra (banned in Russia) and dozens of other groups. We know that they are working together with these organizations and a number of countries to exacerbate the further situation in northwestern Syria," Mekdad said.
The minister added that if Turkish army units do not leave Syrian territory, the international community should actively influence the situation. "If Turkey does not withdraw its forces, the international community will have to intervene, because, according to the UN Charter, any illegal occupation must stop," he summarized.
Earlier Bloomberg agency reported about Turkey sending additional units to the territory of Syria. Ankara did not comment on the information.
Israel's attacks
Syria will never forget Israeli strikes on its territory and will take measures, the Syrian foreign minister said.
"Syria will never forget these attacks, which were carried out without any justification. Syria will take measures to stop such policies," he said.
Asked whether Damascus plans to ask Moscow for more weapons as relations with Israel have worsened, the minister said, "I think Russia has made it clear that it opposes such Israeli policies."
In June, Russian permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said that Russia condemned the airstrikes that Israel was carrying out on Syrian territory. Nebenzya added that such actions "seriously complicate efforts to stabilize the situation in Syria and the region as a whole," and also noted that, according to the Russian side, "the Syrian conflict has no military solution".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS