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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Moscow welcomes Jaysh al-Islam group’s readiness to join talks with Damascus
2017-01-19
[ALMASDARNEWS] Moscow welcomes the Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
group’s readiness to join talks with Syria’s government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday commenting on media reports saying that Mohammed Alloush, one of the group’s leaders, may head the Syrian armed opposition delegation at the Astana talks.

"As far as the participants list and the armed opposition delegation head go, I would like to emphasize once again that apart from the Syrian government, those armed opposition groups, that signed the December 29 agreements, have been invited to take part in the Astana talks," the Russian foreign minister stressed. "We have a list of them, and as I assume, they will form their delegation based on this list."

According to Lavrov, it is not obligatory that all groups send their members "but the delegation will represent all those who signed the December 29 agreements."

"Jaish al-Islam participates in the agreements reached on December 29. Whatever attitude some countries may adopt towards this group, it has not been blacklisted by the UN Security Council as a terror group," Lavrov pointed out. "Along with other armed opposition groups, Jaish al-Islam has also expressed readiness to sign the agreements on establishing a ceasefire and holding talks with the Syrian government, so we welcome this approach."

"Those not affiliated with the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
and Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
(terror groups outlawed in Russia) are eligible to join the December 29 agreements, and we urge them to do it," the Russian top diplomat concluded.

Posted by:Fred

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