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US war on Syria jeopardizes peace conference

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Russia has warned that a US military strike against Syria would delay “for a long time, if not forever” an international peace conference which is to be held aimed at finding a political solution to the ongoing crisis in the Arab country.

“If the action announced by the US President (Barack Obama) — to the great regret of all of us — does in fact take place … it will delay any prospects for such forum for a long time, if not forever,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow on Monday, while referring to the upcoming Syrian peace conference in Geneva.

“If until now, without any external military threats, the opposition did not agree to take part in this conference, then I doubt very much that after the strikes on Syria, if we can’t of course avoid them and if common sense does not prevail, I doubt very much that the opposition will be more cooperative after this, rather quite the opposite,” Lavrov warned.

This is while on Monday, the Russian minister rejected the material provided by the United States and its allies to prove that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons.

The call for military strike against Syria intensified after the Takfiri militants and the foreign-backed Syrian opposition accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching a chemical attack on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21.

The Syrian government categorically rejected the claims, saying that the attack was carried out by the militants to draw in military intervention.

Obama delayed an imminent military strike against Syria on August 31 to seek approval for the move from the Congress, which will debate the issue when lawmakers return from recess on September 9. The Obama administration has, however, said it “has the right” to attack Syria even if the Congress does not approve the measure.

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