November 28, 2018 - 14:33 AMT
Russia confident Islamic State will be "destroyed" east of Euphrates

Russia is confident in the success of the actions of the Syrian government army to destroy the remaining groups of Islamic State east of the Euphrates, Russian Special Presidential Representative for the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentyev said on Wednesday, November 28 at the beginning of the meeting with the delegation of the Syrian government at negotiations in Astana, TASS reports.

"The latest information is very good: the government army crushed the remaining IS groups in some Syrian regions, including Al-Suwayda," he said. "We are absolutely confident that the operation to destroy the remaining groups of Islamic State in areas east of the Euphrates and on the Syrian-Iraqi border will develop positively as well."

Lavrentyev noted that the situation in Syria is generally improving.

"Many things have happened since our previous meeting, and there are issues to discuss," he said. "As we can see, the situation in Syria is gradually improving, and [there is] a tendency for stabilization."

Syria’s territory east of the Euphrates is being controlled by the armed groups, firstly the Kurdish ones that are receiving military support from the US. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Washington actually started creating a quasi-public entity there. The US’ presence has so far impeded the actions of the Syrian army against the terrorist groups in the area.