PRESS RELEASE

---

Lavrov: Syrian Army Suspends Combat Operations In Aleppo

Dec. 8, 2016 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, today, that the Syrian army has suspended combat operations "as a yet another and the biggest one so far operation to evacuate the civilians willing to leave the place is underway there," he said, reported TASS. "There are some 8,000 people in the column. That’s a huge operation and the withdrawal route is five kilometers long."

Lavrov also reported that he had had a telephone conversation and two short meetings with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry while in Hamburg, Germany. "An agreement was reached to organize a meeting between military experts and diplomats in Geneva on Saturday," he said, to work on the withdrawal of militants from the few neighborhoods that they still control.

"As for Jabhat al-Nusra, the United States is seeking to spare it. Moreover, during all our talks, the Americans tried to word agreements in such a way that would leave al-Nusra out and deliver it from reprisals,"

Lavrov said.

"Naturally, we cannot accept that. Al-Nusra is a terrorist organization recognizes as such by the United Nations, the United States, Russia and other countries. It sets one thinking."