Defense Minister Lieutenant General Hossein Dehqan warned that supporters of terrorist groups in Syria may use the ceasefire agreement in the country to rearm the militants.
Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Tuesday, Dehqan said the ceasefire in Syria, which was brokered by Russia and the United States and took effect late Monday, is a favorable development sought by everybody.
“However, what is concerning is that the supporters of terrorist groups could use this opportunity to rearm and reorganize terrorist groups so that they could carry out more brutal operations than before,” Dehqan was quoted as saying by Press TV.
The defense chief stressed that global efforts are required to maintain the ceasefire to dispatch humanitarian aid to civilians in besieged areas and pave the way for Syrians to find a political solution to the crisis in the country.
Dehqan stated that all countries should respect the legal Syrian government because the crisis in the war-stricken country cannot be settled through military approaches.
The truce deal was announced on Friday following intensive talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The seven-day-long ceasefire took effect at sundown on Monday.
Hours after it took effect, a group of militant outfits, including the so-called Free Syrian Army and its affiliated groups, including Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam, released a joint statement describing the accord as “unjust”.
The government in Syria announced on Tuesday that militants hostile to Damascus have violated the ceasefire in the city of Aleppo.
Russia has been conducting an aerial campaign against terrorists in Syria since September 2015.
The operations were launched upon the request of Damascus that has long had military accords with Moscow.
