Russia and Iran expressed their concerns about Syrian and Libyan fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh

Russia’s foreign ministry reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed by phone on Friday and showed concern about the involvement of Syrian and Libyan fighters in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Two Syrian rebel sources informed Reuters that Turkey sends Syrian rebel fighters to support Azerbaijan, which is denied by Ankara and Baku. Indeed, French President Emmanuel Macron has accused Turkey of sending Syrian jihadists to the region. He also demanded on Friday that Turkey explain what he said It was the arrival of jihadist combatants in Azerbaijan and urged NATO to face up to the actions of its ally.

Macron reported: A red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable. I urge all NATO partners to face up to the behavior of a NATO member. He spoke after a summit in Brussels at which EU chiefs agreed to threaten Turkey with sanctions about its gas prospecting in Cypriot waters. However, he was angry about the events in disputed Nagorny Karabakh, where there was severe fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces.

French President claimed that intelligence reports had affirmed that 300 Syrian combatants from jihadist groups from the Syrian city of Aleppo had passed via the Turkish city of Gaziantep to Azerbaijan. He also alleged: These fighters are known, tracked, and identified, and he added that he would call Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the coming days.

Otherwise, Armenia has accused Turkey of sending mercenaries to support its ally Azerbaijan and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday that Ankara had sent at least 300 proxies from northern Syria.

This week, Macron denounced what he called Turkey’s reckless and dangerous statements backing Azerbaijan. In fact, Nagorny Karabakh, which is a majority ethnic Armenian breakaway region inside Azerbaijan, announced independence after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and that led to a war in the early 1990s that killed 30,000 peoples. Actually, it is not recognized as independent by any country, including Armenia, and discussions to resolve the conflict have stopped since a 1994 ceasefire deal.