‘Stop fighters coming from Turkey, Jordan’

Qatar against Opp. lists before peace talks; Russia says its strikes reduce oil smuggling

Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moualem said on Friday that international efforts to end the conflict in his country should focus on preventing insurgents coming in from neighbouring Turkey and Jordan.

Syrian state media, which reported the comments Mr Moualem made after meeting Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi during a visit to Beijing, quoted him as saying he stressed the need to “implement UN Security Council resolutions on fighting terror”.

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad accuses Turkey of arming hardline Islamist rebels and allowing foreign jihadists into Syria and says US-backed Jordan arms and trains insurgents in southern Syria — allegations vehemently denied by those countries.

Mr Moualem said on Thursday Syria was ready to take part in the Geneva talks and hoped the dialogue would help it form a national unity government. State news agency SANA said Mr Moualem and the Chinese official had discussed the threat posed by hardline Islamist militant groups in Syria such as Islamic State and Al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front.

Meanwhile, Qatari foreign minister Khaled al-Attiyah said on Friday he opposed the creation of lists of opposition before peace talks on Syria.

“We are against the absolute classification of groups. What is more important is to understand the logic behind why these groups took up arms, their aims and motives,” he said at a press conference with his Russian counterpart in Moscow.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said it was crucial to ensure that the widest circle of Opposition members take part in future talks to end Syria’s civil war.

Also, Russia said Friday that trucks loaded with oil continue to cross from Syria into Turkey but in lesser numbers thanks to its bombing campaign against Islamic State jihadists.

“Oil tank trucks are continuing to cross the Syrian-Turkish border,” the defence ministry said in a statement.

Moscow said the number of oil tankers moving along the so-called northern route towards a refinery in the Turkish city of Batman had gone down. The same could be seen along the western route leading to Reyhanli and Iskenderun, the two Turk-ish cities on the Medite-rranean coast, the ministry said.

“The number of oil tankers there went down to 265,” the statement said. Moscow said jihadists had been looking for new ways to smuggle oil out of Syria to avoid Russian strikes. Some of the trucks travelling from Syria are entering Turkey near the Iraqi city of Zakho on the Turkish border, the statement said.

“Despite a significant ‘detour’, Turkey remains the final point of the smuggling route,” the defence ministry said. Oil tankers going through the northern and western routes are mainly travelling at night, it added.