Tehran, Hezbollah behind Syria upheaval: Saudi Arabia

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (R) shakes hands with Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel Al Jubeir (L) during a meeting in Ankara, on Wednesday. (AFP)

ANKARA: Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran and Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria for complicating matters and hindering the efforts aiming for a peaceful solution.
In a joint press conference on Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said: “Our goal is to keep Syria’s unity and help the nation restore its security and stability so that the Syrian people could start a country that meets their aspirations.”
However, he added: “We will cooperate with the international community to back Syrian people and implement the Geneva 1 Conference declaration and the UN Security Council’s resolution no. 2254. And we are hoping that the Astana talks would result in a cease-fire agreement and a mechanism for sending assistance to all Syrian areas.”
Al-Jubeir said: “We believe that the PKK and the PYD are terrorist organizations, and we support any endeavors to exterminate terror in any place in the world. Saudi Arabia is a founding country of the international anti-Daesh alliance.”
He added: “The Saudi Air Force is conducting regular operations over Syria to target the terrorist group’s positions. We are looking forward to cooperating with (US) President (Donald) Trump’s administration to step up efforts in order to exterminate Daesh.”