Contact Us

Assad using Daesh to thwart Sochi: Lebanon Druze leader

Anadolu Agency WORLD
Published September 26,2018
Subscribe

Druze leader and head of the Lebanese Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt on Wednesday accused the Syrian regime of using the Daesh terrorist group to sabotage an agreement -- signed Sept. 17 in the Russian city of Sochi -- between Turkey and Russia.

"Hundreds of Daesh fighters have been transferred from the Boukamal area of ​​Deir al-Zour to Idlib province in buses with tinted windows," Jumblatt tweeted.

Without providing the source of the information, the veteran Lebanese politician said the move was intended to "derail the [Sochi] agreement".

Within the framework of proposals made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a Sept. 7 meeting in Tehran, Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin later agreed in Sochi on the need to take measures to maintain a ceasefire in Idlib.

According to Jumblatt, a similar incident took place in July, when a number of Daesh militants were taken from the Al-Hajar al-Aswad area to the Al-Badia district in Syria's majority-Druze Al-Suwayda province, where, Jumblatt said, they had carried out "brutal attacks" on local residents.

In late July, Daesh terrorists abducted 36 civilians from Al-Suwayda -- including women and children -- after carrying out a deadly attack that left scores dead.