Russia Warns 'Terrorist Organizations' May Rise in Syria
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Russia warned on Wednesday that "terrorist organizations" may arise in Syria should President Bashar al-Assad's regime fall under pressure from ongoing street protests.
"If the Syrian government is unable to hold on to power, there is a high probability that radicals and representatives of terrorist organizations will become entrenched," Interfax quoted a top foreign ministry official as saying.
Russia has been attracting increasing international anger over its continued support for Syria despite a government crackdown on protests that the United Nations estimates has killed around 2,600 people.
Moscow has refused to support Western sanctions against its Soviet-era ally and argues that equal pressure should also be placed on protesters who refuse to engage Assad in direct talks.
President Dmitry Medvedev last week also said that some of those taking part in the Syrian demonstrations had links to "terrorists".
The foreign ministry's new challenges and threats department chief Ilya Rogachyov said that Libya could become another safe haven for extremist groups following the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.
"Strange things are happening in Libya," Interfax quoted Rogachyov as saying during a lecture in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg.
"Weapons storages have been burgled and no one knows what happened," he said. "We can say with a high degree of probability that the weapons fell into the hands of the regional department of al-Qaida."
Russia heavily criticized the NATO-led campaign against Gadhafi's forces after abstaining on a U.N. vote that authorized the action.
14 September 2011, 17:14
20
an nahar is obsessed with syria.
how about what happened on yesterdays shooting between glorious resistance and some wahabi/salafist scum among palestinians?
14 September 2011, 17:27
12
Like all Russians, this man has no principles. Are you saying it is ok to keep a butcher in place and support him for fear of some extremists? Does your thick mind understand this is a People's Revolt....... in any revolt you are bound to have hangers on and opportunists. But to deprive the Syrian people of freedom under the pretext of fear of extremism is utter nonsense. I don't think the Russian President even believes himself.....!!!!
14 September 2011, 17:30
03
The Syrian government already have a monopoly on terrorism and are killing a dozen a day. There is no othr terrorist group that can match that anywhere in the world.
14 September 2011, 17:40
03
Hey Russia, by the way, when ASSad is gone so is your dream of a navy base and any chance to drill for gas.
14 September 2011, 18:57
04
ask him who sent us Shaker el Absi in 2008? wasn't he arrested and emprisoned in Syria by the Syrian intelligence before he came to Nahr el Bared Camp to lead Fath el Islam?
Who was it that sent him? the protesters? or was it the Syrian moukhabarat?
who is harbouring Fath el QG, ie Ahmad Jibril forces? who gives them arms and money?
Bashar el Assad and the Syrian moukhabarat are the main terrorists bakers in the region, and with them gone, a lot of terrorist organisations will weaken and disappear.
14 September 2011, 19:27
10
He didn't say that some of the Syrian protesters had links to terrorists. He said some of them perhaps ARE terrorists.
14 September 2011, 19:31
06
@sunni,
same could have been told about Ben Ali in Tunisia, and Moubarak in Egypt, reality is they'll either rot in prison, or flee to some desert.
The wind of change is blowing so strong that evey Saudis rulers are afraid of it. And yes, Iran as well... and the more states convert to freedom and democracy the harder rulers like the Assads can find a place to hide.
14 September 2011, 23:37
04
begin packing ur last naval base on the mediterrenean: lattakieh.
back to siberia pouchkin!!!!!!!
15 September 2011, 00:36
03
The large majority of terrorists operating in the region are harbored, armed and financed by the Syrian regime along with the Iranian regime.
When Assad goes these organizations will fall and will not rise as the Russian president leads us to believe.
The main instigator of trouble in the Arab world is Assad by exploiting extremists to execute his agendas.
Russia is on the wrong side of history and will be kicked out of the region if it remains this way.
