MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - Not only the official Damascus but also outside forces supporting opponents of the regime are responsible for the Syrian conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Saturday.
"Without doubt, they bear the bulk of the responsibility for what is happening on their territory, for ensuring the safety and rights of their citizens," he said.
"But the Syrian government is not the only one to blame. In a situation when massacres in Houla and Kubeir, and other numerous acts of violence became possible, including terrorist attacks in Damascus, Aleppo and other cities, which were strongly condemned by the UN Security Council - all that is the result of confrontation which is being actively fueled by outside forces," the minister said.
Opponents of the regime enjoy considerable military and financial support from abroad, he said. The so-called armed opposition gets "moral support, money, weapons, and help in trafficking militants from neighboring countries into Syria".
He criticized biased coverage of the Syrian events in some foreign media which rely on reports by "well-known and engaged regional TV channels that quite often portray the actions of illegal armed formations as heroic deeds of peaceful demonstrators fighting for human rights and values".