U.S. air strikes against govt forces in Syria to play into hands of Islamic State - Peskov
MOSCOW. Aug 3 (Interfax) - Possible U.S. air strikes designed to protect the Syrian opposition could further destabilize the situation in the country and could play into the hands of terrorists from the Islamic State organization, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
"Moscow has stressed more than once that assistance, especially assistance extended to the Syrian opposition by some financial and technical methods, leads to further destabilization in the country," Peskov told reporters.
The Kremlin spokesman offered his comments in response to U.S. media reports that the White House was not ruling out possible air strikes against pro-government forces in Syria if they threatened the insurgents from the local opposition trained by the Americans.
"In effect, this could lead to a situation in the country that could be used by terrorists from so-called Islamic State because this is how the weakened government is losing its potential for combating the further spread of Islamic State," Peskov said.
This situation exposes fundamental disagreements between Moscow and Washington over the Syrian issue, he said.