Almost 30,000 refugees have fled today.
De-escalation in East Ghouta can work only if the rebels cease the gunfire upon Damascus. This statement was made by Sergey Lavrov in his interview with the Kazakhstan President's Television and Radio Company. The Russian Foreign Minister pointed out that right now the rebels are constantly firing on Damascus, including the territory of the Russian embassy.
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: "The level of violence has surely dropped, the southern de-escalation zone is successfully functioning, which was established concurrently with the "Astana process" talks, with the involvement of our colleagues in Jordan and the US. And as far as I know, everything in the de-escalation zone in Idlib is going in the right direction. Our Turkish colleagues have finally completed or are completing setting up a proper number of observation posts, which will allow control of the military situation. And the de-escalation zone in Homs is functioning more or less successfully".
What is happening in Syria can no longer be called a "proxy-war". Special forces of the USA, UK, France, and other countries are taking part in the war." This is another statement by Sergey Lavrov. He emphasized, that the representatives of these countries don't even deny their direct involvement in the war.
Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister: "There are US special forces on the ground, and they don't even deny it, the British, French and other countries' special forces are also operating there without disclosure. So that is direct involvement, rather than "proxy" war. And we surely disapprove of the illegitimate presence of armed forces on Syrian territory, which the US coalition does, in terms of the international law and the UN Charter. But we are realists, and we understand that it's not an option to fight them. So we coordinate actions, in order to at least prevent accidental clashes".
