DUSHANBE, April 28, 2016, Asia-Plus – Russian media outlets report Russia has proposed that the United Nations Security Council blacklist Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham for links to Islamic State and al Qaeda militants.
“The reason for such a move was the information that these groups, which are waging a war in Syria, are closely connected to terrorist organizations, first of all with ISIS (Islamic State) and al Qaeda,” Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said in a statement on April 26.
“On April 26, the Russian mission submitted a request to the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee to include Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam organizations in the Islamic State and al-Qaeda Sanctions List,” Churkin told reporters.
In Damascus, the Jaysh al-Islam group, linked to al-Nusra Front and not subject to the ceasefire, shelled residential areas,
Sputnik
reported, noting that another group not subject to the ceasefire, Ahrar al-Sham, is also active in the area.
According to
Reuters
, diplomat say that if none of the council”s 15-member Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee blocks or puts a hold on the listing by 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on May 11 then the groups will be added to the U.N. sanctions list.
Russia”s Foreign Ministry has long said that Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham should not be involved in Syria peace talks.
Ahrar al-Sham is an ultra-orthodox Salafist group and has fought as part of a military alliance including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which was not part of a cessation of hostilities agreement brokered in February.
Ahrar al-Sham, whose late leader fought alongside Osama bin Laden, last year denied sharing al Qaeda”s ideology or having organizational ties to the group.
Meanwhile,
Reuters
reports that a senior Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the Russian move as “unhelpful.” “It”s a way of trying to divide the opposition,” the diplomat said on Wednesday.
