Putin Suggests Working Group To 'Normalize' Syria After Islamist Defeat

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Islamist defeat was already in sight and suggested a working group of stakeholders who would stabilize Syria after the last pockets are cleared

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Islamist defeat was already in sight and suggested a working group of stakeholders who would stabilize Syria after the last pockets are cleared.

"The idea is to create a working group of interested parties, first of all Syria, its government, opposition, and regional actors, those involved in this conflict, so that they complete the normalization process after the last pockets of terrorism have been suppressed," he said.

The group will oversee foreign troop pullout as well as restoration of Syria's statehood and territorial integrity, Putin said, adding he discussed this idea with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The situation [in Syria] has stabilized. There are some pockets of terrorist resistance but they are being suppressed. I think it will be over soon," the president told journalists.

The Idlib governorate in Syria's northwest is the last major stronghold of Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) insurgency, according to Putin. Militants are also present on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.