Zarif, Lavrov, al-Moallem meet in line with anti-terror strategy

Moscow, Oct 27, IRNA – A Russian official said on Thursday that meeting of the Iranian, Russian and Syrian foreign ministers in Moscow is in line with the strategy for fighting terrorism in the region. Head of Russia Center for Political know-how Sergey Mikheev made the remarks on the eve of the trilateral meeting of Lavrov, Zarif and Walid al-Moallem slated to be held on Friday. The three foreign ministers are expected to discuss the latest developments in Syria, the western and Arab states support to anti-government terrorists and help boost convergence in the field. He further noted that terrorists are executives of projects of the western crisis-fostering in the Middle East. The Russian official told IRNA that the US and its allies' fight against the terrorist groups, Daesh in particular, is a false claim, because Daesh has been created by the West and Washington. The developments in Syria over the past several years have demonstrated the true image of the US and its western and Arab allies, he said, noting that they are evidently backing the terrorist groups. Mikheev further noted that the West and the US as well as their allies showed that the main aim is not fighting terrorists; rather they wish the overthrow of the Syrian legal government and bring to power of a puppet government. The evil anti-Syrian conspiracy is part of the Big Middle East project to split the country to create place for terrorists to do their job, he said. Cooperation of Iran and Russia with regional states has disturbed the US' anti-Syrian plot, he said, noting that the US is getting stronger, as the Daesh terrorists has lost most of the areas under control, with most of them killed or escaped to the neighboring states. Daesh faces the same situation in Iraq too. The Iraqi army and popular paramilitary forces have cornered the terrorists and that's why certain Arab states such as Saudi Arabia have come to save the groups from annihilation. Describing the trilateral meeting as significant, he said that the West is precisely monitoring it because Moscow's extensive cooperation with regional states have had positive achievements for the Middle East. 1378/IRNA