Lebanon’s FM Calls for Single Coalition against Terrorism
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Visiting Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil stressed the need for all counties across the world to create a single coalition against terrorist groups in the Middle East.
“Lebanon as a member of the international coalition in the fight against terrorism invites all nations to build a single coalition instead of the two current ones so that we fight on the same front, and no country is excluded from it,” Bassil told reporters here in Tehran, referring to the US-led coalition and the coalition of Iran, Russia, Iraq and Syria against ISIL terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
He further described Iran’s role in the region as “critical”, saying that the Islamic Republic is “very serious” in supporting the anti-Israeli Resistance Movement and countering the threats posed by terrorist and extremist groups.
The Lebanese top diplomat further called for closer cooperation among regional states to deal with terrorism.
Since late September, Russia has been carrying out bombings against the ISIL terrorist group in Syria, after Russia’s parliament granted President Putin authorization to deploy the country's air force abroad.
Back on October 1, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham voiced the country’s support for Russia’s attacks against the Takfiri terrorists.
Syria has been entangled in civil war since March 2011. The ISIL Takfiri group now controls parts of the Arab country, mostly in the east.
In the past four and half years, more than 240,000 people have died in Syria -overwhelmingly civilians- and around 4 million Syrian people are now refugees in other countries. Around 8 million others have been displaced internally.