Syria's FM says patience about Idlib situation "has limits"

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Thursday that the Syrian government's patience about the situation in the northwestern province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria, "has limits."

Al-Moallem made the remarks at his joint press conference with the visiting Jorge Arreaza, the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, who arrived in the capital Damascus earlier in the day and met with Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

During the press conference, al-Moallem answered a question about the situation in Idlib, saying that the Russian allies of the Syrian government said that Turkey wants the implementation of the Sochi agreement about Idlib.

In September of last year, Russia and Turkey agreed to enforce a demilitarized zone in Idlib, where "radical" rebels were required to withdraw. However, the radical rebels expanded and controlled the entire Idlib region and the agreement didn't materialize.

"Regarding the situation in Idlib, we hear from the Russian friends that the situation is hard but Turkey is determined to implement the Sochi agreement. Frankly, we are waiting for the implementation of the Sochi agreement but our patience has limits. We must liberate this land," al-Moallem said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian official said the Kurdish-led groups in northeastern Syria must come back to their senses after they have been counting on the U.S. while requiring an autonomous control in northeastern Syria.

"Regarding the armed groups in northern Syria, we say that in the northeast region, on the eastern region of the Euphrates River, there are Arab tribes and a group of Kurdish citizens and we are hoping that they could return to their senses and to learn from the history lesson to not trust anything but the Syrian homeland," he remarked.

For his part, the Venezuelan foreign minister said that the countries which support the implementation of the international law and respect the UN charter must work to make a change in the U.S. policy.

"We hope the work of the countries that support the implementation of the international law and respect the UN charters to be able to make a change in the policy of the United States ... I think it would be difficult ... but we are still counting on diplomacy and dialogue," Arreaza said.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)