Pushkov offers condolences to Lebanese foreign minister over terrorist attack, calls to back idea of broad anti-ISIL coalition
MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) - Chairman of the State Duma international affairs committee Alexei Pushkov met with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil in Moscow on Thursday.
"At the meeting Pushkov offered condolences to the Lebanese foreign minister over a terrorist attack in Beirut and called to pool efforts by all the countries, primarily regional ones, where combat actions are being conducted against ISIL, to support the idea of a broad coalition like the anti-Hitler one," says a statement released by the Pushkov's press service.
For his part, Bassil spoke of support to Russia and highly valued its decisive actions against terrorists.
The Lebanese foreign minister said that the threat was also coming from the Islamic State for Lebanese security, the statement said. "Lebanon is a multi-confessional state built on the balance of interests of different ethno-religious groups. And already this alone makes modern Lebanon inconsistent to the radical ideas, which the Islamic State professes. According to the available information, the forces linked to ISIL are involved in the terrorist attack in Lebanon," the available statement quoted the diplomat as saying.
It also named another major problem which Lebanon has to face that is the presence of around 1.9-2 million refugees: 450,000 of them are Palestinians and 1.5 million are refugees from Syria. "This is an extremely heavy burden for such a small country as Lebanon," the foreign minister said. In his view, this may pose a threat for the country's security, because Islamic State representatives may act among refugees.
The Lebanese foreign minister invited Pushkov to visit Beirut in the spring of the next year.