USA: Reports of Russian airstrikes targeting civilians are lies, says FM Muallem

SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "Yes, everything is coordinated and everything is done at the request of the Syrian government via the Russian government. We provide ongoing coordination of the operation." SOT, RT Journalist (Arabic): "The United States said today that these attacks were directed against the civilian population and against the so-called moderate opposition, and also perhaps against Assad's opponents?" SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "They will lie to the end. It is absolutely not true. There are certain targets that have been found and the raids were carried out on the basis of this information." SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "Nobody tells the media about its diplomatic contacts. However, the meeting was constructive and focused on the aspect of military and political Russian-Syrian cooperation." SOT, Journalist (Arabic): "It is obvious that the General Assembly has not led to success and a breakthrough on various aspects of the Middle East, especially in regard to the fight against terrorism. Is there a new strategy that can be implemented even on the background of the obvious differences?" SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "Unfortunately, it is clear that there is the split in the international community. Therefore, it has failed in the fight against terrorism. This terrorism has spread and has become a worldwide phenomenon. For this reason, we call for the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions related to the fight against terrorism and mentioned in Article 7. We asked why the Security Council did nothing against those states that have not begun to implement these resolutions." SOT, Journalist (Arabic): "What are the next steps at the political level that must be taken after the Russian operation in Syria? How will the political process look like in parallel with these developments?" SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "The political process should benefit from the changes in the situation on the ground. The fact is that the purpose of these operations is to destroy terrorism in the face of ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations linked to Al-Qaeda. Therefore, the results at political level will appear after the results of the military operations." SOT, Journalist (Arabic): "Is there any coordination with states friendly to Syria, for example, with Iraq? And how it will affect the fight against ISIS?" SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "As it was announced a few days ago there is the intelligence and information centre for the exchange of information in Baghdad, which includes Syria, Russia, Iraq and Iran, and we have high hopes for this centre in the fight against terrorism." SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): " I would like to say that each state, which supports the fight against terrorism must join the efforts of the Russian Federation, announced by the honourable President Putin." SOT, RT Journalist (Arabic): "Is there any coordination with a coalition led by the United States?" SOT, Walid Muallem, Syrian Foreign Minister (Arabic): "There is no coordination that concerns us. Thank you." Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem refuted allegations printed in Western media that Russian airstrikes targeted the Syrian civilian population during his visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Wednesday, stating that "they will lie to the end. It is absolutely not true. There are certain targets that have been found and the raids were carried out on the basis of this information." Muallem told reporters that the international community had "failed in the fight against terrorism," and questioned why the UN Security Council took no action against the states which have not implemented the UN resolutions related to fighting terrorism. Muallem confirmed that "the purpose of these operations is to destroy terrorism in the face of ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations linked to Al-Qaeda," and for this purpose they have created an intelligence and information centre in Baghdad for the exchange of information between Syria, Russia, Iraq and Iran. When asked if there was any coordination with the United States-led coalition which also claims to be targeting Islamic State forces in Syria, Muallem replied that "there is no coordination that concerns us."