Caucasus militants among rebels penetrating Syria

Some of the militants penetrating Syria belong to ethnic groups inhabiting the Caucasus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Tuesday at a meeting with Russia's State Duma speaker Sergei Naryshkin. Syria had been a target of aggression for almost two-and-a-half years, he said. The sad fact of the situation was that the length of the Turkish-Syrian border was a mere 350 kilometers but this was the border with a country engaged in an aggression against the Syrian state, al-Moallem added. Militants from about 83 countries were being trained in Turkey and all of them eventually would become involved in continuing aggression against Syria, he said. Some of these militants came from Chechnya and some others from the Caucasus in general. Though relations between Syria and Turkey had traditionally been friendly, the Turkish government had taken an entirely hostile stance towards Syrians in this situation, al-Moallem said.