Russia: Opposition militants inflamed Aleppo violence, not govt. – FM’s Zakharova

Russia "insists on the need for an uncompromising struggle against terrorists and those who violate the cessation of hostilities" in Syria, announced Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry, during her weekly briefing in Moscow, Friday.
Zakharova commented on the escalation of the armed conflict in and around Aleppo and the recent shelling of the city's hospital in the end of April. She stressed that "the main reason of exacerbation was not the actions of government forces," but the "terrorists, who are trying by all means to disrupt the cessation." She went on to say that "the problem is that our American partners" have proved not able to get the Syrian opposition groups they support "to dissociate themselves" from terrorists.
The spokesperson also mentioned the dangers posed by "non-state actors" getting their hands on chemical weapons, adding that they were "capable of exerting an increasingly destabilising effect on the situation in the entire Middle East region." That comes after the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ahmet Uzumcu stated in an interview that mustard gas was used in Syria and Iraq.
Over the last week fighting has intensified around Aleppo with government forces reporting that they had come under repeated attacks by Al-Nusra Front.