Syria: Terrorists supplied with advanced arms

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says Turkey and other countries continue to supply terrorists in Syria with advanced weapons.

According to Press TV, he made the remarks on Thursday at a meeting with China's special envoy to Syria as fighting raged across the country after the collapse of UN-sponsored peace talks.

Muallem said the Syrian government would press on with its fight against terrorists, the official SANA news agency said.

The remarks come as leaders of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC) left the latest round of the peace talks, which began in Geneva on April 13, to protest at what they called escalating violence and restrictions on humanitarian access in Syria.

In reaction to the HNC decision, Syria's chief negotiator in peace talks, Bashar al-Ja’afari, said on Wednesday that the so-called opposition group does not represent the Syrian people.

Syria's chief negotiator Bashar Ja'afari said the opposition and the countries that support it are “annoyed because of the progress being made by the Syrian army on the ground.”

Al-Ja’afari, who also serves as Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, has said that Damascus is prepared to discuss the formation of a new inclusive unity government but the future of President Bashar al-Assad remains off limits.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad also said the opposition's move proved their lack of seriousness in reaching a political solution to the conflict gripping the Arab country.

Senior Syrian officials blame Saudi Arabia as well as Turkey and Qatar, the HNC’s chief supporters, of seeking to sabotage the peace talks.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has also dismissed as groundless opposition allegations that the Syrian government forces violated the ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia, which went into effect on February 27 across Syria.

SS