Head of the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic to Geneva Bashar al-Jaafari said that the fifth round of the Syrian dialogue in Geneva started with a back ground of escalation of Jabhat al-Nusra and other associated terrorist organizations and this is not the first time that this escalation is simultaneous with the initiation of rounds of talks or political initiative whether in Geneva or Astana.

In a press conference following his meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Friday, al-Jaafari stressed that the latest escalation is worth noting in terms of timing, the form of the escalation and the substance of the escalation.

He added that the participants in the attacks this time going from the neighborhood of Jobar of Damascus were Jabhat al-Nusra, Failaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Islam. ” As you know these factions have been fighting the Syrian army and fighting among themselves as well in line with the instructions given to these faction by their handlers but when the instructions were sent to the handlers of each of these terrorist groups to unite under the umbrella of Jabhat al-Nusra those who had been fighting yesterday became partners today there is an important background of this information and that Jabhat al-Nusra is considered as a terrorist group by the UN Security Council therefore all those who deal with it to be considered also a terrorist and any government that deals with al-Nusra and any groups associated with it will be considered as a sponsor of terrorism so same to the fact that the Turkish, Saudi, French, Qatari, Jordanian, British and Israeli regimes are dealing with terrorists is not a difficult problem to solve.

On the current attack on Hama countryside, al-Jaafari said: ” The so-called Jaish al-Nassr, Jaish al-Izza, Faliq al-Sham, Jaish Idleb al-Hurr “Idleb free army”, led by Ahrar Sham and also Jabhat al-Nusra are participating in the underway attack on Hama countryside,” adding: “All these factions of course are controlled by the Turkish secret services, ”

He went on to say: ” Of course it is clear that the participants with al-Nusra in the attack on eastern Damascus and Hama countryside are factions that had participated in Astana meetings and this is an indication of the involvement of those regimes that I mentioned in the terrorist attacks in Syria,”

“When a terrorist attacks the British Parliament in London, the UK mobilizes all its forces, nuclear, bacteriological, chemical and traditional weapons to face this single attacker and when another terrorist Mohamed Marrah attacked one city in France, he was killed with 300 bullets but when a terrorist attacks the headquarters of the justice in Damascus the western media, including the British and French, call him a jihadist,” he said.

Al-Jaafari added that the fact that these terrorist groups are now under the umbrella of Jabhat al-Nusra is but a failed attempt to cover up their terrorist nature and their violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement declared in 29/12/2016.

“It becomes very common these days for terrorist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra itself and terrorist groups affiliated with it to change their names every 24 hours or so and that is to avoid being classified as a terrorist organization for dealing with al-Nusra, but this is well understood by the terrorism specialists in Damascus and other cities and in the Security Council,” he said.

“We don’t forget the bombings that stroke Damascus before the start of this round. Those bombings let the killing of many of innocent civilians. And I’d like to mention in this regard a painful incident in the UNSC where the Russian delegation in the Security Council submitted three draft press statements, the first condemning the terrorist attacks in Homs, the second condemning the bombing in the Palace of Justice in Damascus and the third condemning the targeting of the Russian Embassy in Damascus but the delegations of US, French and UK objected to these draft press statements and therefore these statements were not adopted,” he said.

“We don’t forget either the inhabitants of eastern Damascus city who for years and in recent days have been subjected to indiscriminate terrorist shells and bullet firing and they still steadfast in their homes. Yesterday the terrorists shelled the only hospital in Fares al-Khory Street which is called al-Zahrawi Maternity which is the only hospital in east Damascus that offers medical services for pregnant women,” he added.

“That’s why today we focused in our first meeting in Geneva 5 on combating terrorism, especially in light of the events that we mentioned to you in the terrorist attacks targeting Damascus and Hama and based on the request of UN Special Envoy, we assist the tracks of Geneva and Astana and we commend Astana track and the positive and constructive Russian initiatives on stabilizing the ceasefire and on combating terrorism and finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria through continued coordination between President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin,” al-Jaafari said.

He pointed out that the Syrian delegation put a number of questions to the UN Special Envoy to understand his position and positions of the other parties with the regard of the situation in Syria