Russian Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said that representatives of the Syrian opposition expressed their discontent with the US presence in the country and fear that it will eventually lead to a schism. The comments were made during a press-conference in Astana on Thursday.

“It was remarkable that the representatives even of the Syrian Opposition, with whom we had productive talks today, emphasised their opposition to the current situation with the illegal presence of Americans in Syria,” he said.

According to Lavrentiev, the Syrian Opposition “confessed that, according to their feelings, the Americans are really bringing about a certain division of the country.”

Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari claimed that “all the troops that illegally entered the territory should withdraw as well as American troops.”

Jaafari also claimed that the recent chemical attack on Aleppo was made by terrorists with instructions from “the Turkish government.”

“We know who delivered them, who supplied them chemical weapons, who gave them permission to use it,” he added.

The 11th round of Syria peace talks in the Astana format started on Wednesday in the Kazakh capital.

Video credit: Ruptly