Russian President Chief of Staff, Sergei Ivanov said that the war in Syria was no more between the government and the opposition, noting that everybody is fighting everybody in the crisis-torn country.

Russian President Chief of Staff, Sergei Ivanov said that the war in Syria was no more between the government and the opposition, noting that everybody is fighting everybody in the crisis-torn country.

During an interview with Russian media, Ivanov stressed the possibility of inviting “rational members” of the Syrian opposition to take part in Geneva 2 peace conference.

“The West started to realize that the opposition should be classified and that they (Western countries) should stop convincing al-Qaeda and other extremist groups to think about Geneva 2,” Ivanov said, adding that such groups should not be armed.

The Russian official also noted that if the West armed the so-called Syrian popular army, which is composed of Syrians fighting regime, then there are no guarantees that al-Qaeda would not seize their weapons.

On the other hand, Ivanov said that he believes that the war in Syria is no more between the government and the opposition.

“The opposition consists of five separate factions that hate each other… Everybody is fighting everybody in Syria.”