A spokesman for the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on Wednesday expressed surprise at recent statements from U.S. officials on the U.S.'s intention to hold talks with the so-called Islamic Front terrorist group.
U.S. officials said they were to discuss alleged “non-lethal assistance” to the group and encourage it to engage in the scheduled Geneva II conference in order to achieve a broad representation of the so-called "Syrian opposition," the statement claimed.
The Foreign Ministry's spokesman denounced the U.S. stance, expressed in statements made by the U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. State Department spokespersons, saying it shows the U.S.’s failure to form a delegation of the various spectra of the opposition at Geneva.
The position of the U.S., the spokesman added, contravenes its responsibilities in its position as a U.N. Security Council member, expected to implement and comply with the Council's resolutions related to counterterrorism.
The statement said the U.S. stance contradicts the international commitment that the Geneva conference will not allow the participation of terrorist organizations.
The Foreign Ministry's spokesman said the Islamic Front, which includes a group of armed terrorist groups, agrees in thought, strategy and goals with the Nusra front and its radical principles based on wahhabi fatwas.
The spokesman said that the Islamic Front announced its goal of establishing an Islamic emirate with the support of foreign terrorist groups, and that the Front's leaders have admitted to crimes and terrorist activities committed against the Syrian people.
The statement expressed “wonder” at how the U.S. administration can justify to the its public that it holds talks with Al-Qaeda in Syria when this terrorist organization was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center, and how it can justify its position given that it invaded Afghanistan with the pretext of counterterrorism. The U.S. “should have read the charter of the Islamic Front before deciding to hold talks with it,” the statement said.
Translated and edited by the Syrian Observer
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