Russia: US uses weird logic to tie Syria presence to Iran

Russia has criticized the US for applying a "weird logic" to justify its illegal presence in Syria by declaring that it wanted to defeat Daesh but it would be impossible as long as Iran was there.

"The Americans justify their presence in Syria by the need to fight ISIL (Daesh), and they say that it is impossible to defeat ISIL as long as Bashar al-Assad and Iran are there. It is a very weird logic, I would say, and I hope you don’t share it," Lavrov said.

Addressing the 4th annual Mediterranean Dialogues Conference (MED) in Rome, the Russian foreign minister said the world should respect the Syrian people's right to self-determination. 

"And I hope everybody is committed to the principle of the Syrian people themselves deciding the fate of their country through elections," Lavrov said.

The remarks came one week after James Jeffrey, Washington’s special representative to Syria, claimed that US presence in Syria was aimed at defeating Daesh and forcing the withdrawal of Iranian advisers from the country.

The top Russian diplomat also said Moscow did not want any "artificial deadlines" for the Syrian peace process.

"Those who insist on [UN Special Envoy for Syria] Staffan de Mistura setting a deadline, they want only one thing, to ruin the Astana process and come back to some regime change logic," he said.

Ankara, Moscow and Tehran are guarantors of the Astana process, a track of negotiations which have resulted in the return of a succession of militant bastions to the government hold and movement of civilians to safe zones.

Iran has been offering military advisory assistance to the Syrian army at the request of the Damascus government.

SS