Lavrov assures Bassil of Russia's support for Lebanon

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has assured Lebanese counterpart Gebran Bassil of Moscow’s support for Lebanon’s stability, unity and territorial integrity amid a troubled Middle East swept by conflicts and jihadi violence, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said, according to the Daily Star newspaper.
The statement, which was distributed by Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry Wednesday, said Lavrov and Bassil discussed the plight of Iraqi and Syrian Christians facing an onslaught by Daesh militants, during their meeting on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council meetings in Geneva.
“Lavrov briefed his Lebanese counterpart on efforts by the Russian authorities, the civil society and NGOs to assist the affected Christian communities as part of humanitarian support for countries of the region,” the statement said.
In an address he made to the Council Tuesday, Bassil complained that Christians in the Levant are being systematically displaced in a prelude to turning the area into a hotbed for global terrorism.