Lavrov criticizes US on Syria intervention
August 4, 2015
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking to reporters after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, has called for an end to "foreign intervention" in the Syria crisis.
"We believe it's counterproductive to announce publicly that some US trained armed groups... will be under the protection of the coalition's air forces," said Lavrov on Monday.
The US, meanwhile, has continued its drone missions into Syria from an air base in Turkey and imposed new rules allowing the US to defend Syrian rebels against attacks from any hostile force, including the Assad government.
The first armed drone missions out of Turkey began last weekend. The military is planning to add manned aircraft flights from there, said US officials.
The change in military strategy had been pushed by members of the US Congress, who argued that the US could not train the rebels and send them into battle against the "Islamic State" without backup.
"I am pleased that the administration has finally decided to provide additional military support to the Syrian forces the Department of Defense is training and equipping to counter ISIL in northern Syria," said Senator John McCain, using an alternate acronym for the "Islamic State" extremist group.
No airstrikes yet
So far none of the US drones have launched airstrikes, but a Pentagon spokesman said they may begin conducting strikes soon.
Under current guidelines, US forces can only conduct offensive missions against the "Islamic State," and is unable to go after other groups such as Assad government forces. The concern is that doing so would set off a war with Syria.
However, US officials in recent weeks have walked a careful line, arguing that they have an obligation to defend the Syrian rebels that have been trained by the US to help battle the "Islamic State" militants.
Under these new rules, the US can defend the rebels if they come under fire from government forces or any other group, such as the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's branch in Syria. But American forces still aren't able to launch offensive missions against those other groups.
av/cmk (AP, Reuters)