Britain, the United States, France and Ukraine
blocked a Russian proposal at the United Nations to blacklist Syrian
rebel groups Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham for links to Islamic State
and al Qaeda militants, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Russia made the proposal late last month and
the U.S. mission to the United Nations had signaled it would oppose the
move, saying it would undermine attempts to get a sustained halt in the
fighting in Syria.
The U.N. Security Council's 15-member Islamic
State and al Qaeda sanctions committee has to agree by consensus before
individuals or groups can be blacklisted.
Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army) is a major armed
rebel group in Syria and part of the High Negotiation Committee, which
was set up in Riyadh last December to negotiate on behalf of opposition
groups at U.N.-brokered peace talks with the government.
The High Negotiation Committee is backed by Western nations and key Arab states.
Ahrar al-Sham withdrew from the Riyadh
meeting, saying "revolutionary groups" were sidelined. But the group did
attend the last round of peace talks in Geneva.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has long said that Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham should not be involved in Syria peace talks.
Ahrar al-Sham is an ultra-orthodox Salafist
group and has fought as part of a military alliance including the al
Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which was not part of a cessation of
hostilities agreement brokered in February.
Ahrar al-Sham, whose late leader fought
alongside Osama bin Laden, last year denied sharing al Qaeda's ideology
or having organizational ties to the group.
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