Reuters. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday (August 23) that an escalation of military action in Syria would be "unacceptable," in comments aimed at persuading Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to row back talk of a new campaign in northern Syria.
Speaking in Moscow at a press conference alongside his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, Lavrov said Russia and Syria were looking to negotiate with Turkey to "prevent any new military action."
Lavrov also condemned Israeli missile attacks against Syria, in comments that underline a chill in once-warm Russian-Israel relations.
Russia is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government.
"We strongly condemned the dangerous practice of Israeli strikes on Syrian territory," Lavrov said.
"We demand that Israel respect the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and, above all, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria."
Israel hit Iranian targets in a series of strikes on Aug. 14 near Assad's ancestral home region and also close to Russia's main Syrian bases on the Mediterranean coast, regional intelligence and Syrian military sources said.
Speaking at the same news conference in Moscow, Mekdad gave Lavrov his backing to Russia's actions in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" its smaller southern neighbour.
