Skip to main content

'Ditch double standards!' Russia seeks united anti-ISIS front after Palmyra massacre




Fakhreddin's Castle (top), is pictured in the historical city of Palmyra (Reuters/Nour Fourat)




Moscow has condemned the massacre of civilians in the ancient city of Palmyra, urging the international community to denounce double standards in its approach to fighting terrorists, and unite against IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) aggression.

“We strongly condemn the atrocities committed by armed extremists in Palmyra,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Once again, we urge international and regional parties to abandon the vicious practice of using double standard approaches to fighting against terrorism, and launch efficient cooperation with the governments of Middle East countries, which are directly repelling the ISIS offensive,” the ministry said.


Moscow believes that US-led airstrike campaign against Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria have not done enough to impede the jihadists’ advance in the two Middle Eastern states.

“Despite efforts taken by the so-called anti-terrorist coalition led by the United States, the Islamic State is acting ever more actively and stops at nothing to reach its goal – establish a trans-border 'caliphate' on a vast area from Damascus to Baghdad.”

The ministry believes that recent gains by the militants in Syria, and the brutal executions of civilians that followed, demonstrate the ineffectiveness of the coalition’s approach.

Russia condemned the mass executions reportedly carried out by IS in the Syrian city of Palmyra after being overrun by the extremists last week. The ongoing jihadist offensive, Moscow says, is a threat to“stability and security in the entire Middle East.”






IS managed to capture the 2,000-year-old ancient ruins of the world heritage site at Palmyra after seizing the city’s intelligence headquarters, military air base, and prison.

According to witness testimonies, IS fighters have staged mass executions of prisoners of war and anyone loyal to Damascus, killing round 400 people in the last couple of days, including women and children. Some 600 more of the city’s residents have reportedly disappeared, their fate, as of yet, unknown.

The jihadists now control more than half of Syria’s territory, according to London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The capture of Palmyra comes shortly after the terrorists seized controlof the city of Ramadi in the Anbar province of neighboring Iraq.

In order to avoid further bloodshed in Syria and Iraq, Moscow called for a united front to fight the radicals.

“Radicals can be stopped, as Russia consistently proposes, only when the international community unites its efforts on a generally recognized basis of international law and strict implementation of UN Security Council resolutions,” the ministry said.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re
Post a Comment
Read more

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has
Post a Comment
Read more

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specif
1 comment
Read more