The military ties between Moscow and Damascus was aimed at improving Syria's defense capability against foreign threat, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

Military-technical cooperation between the two countries "has always been aimed at strengthening the defense capability of Syria in the face of a possible external threat, rather than supporting Bashar al-Assad or anyone else," Lavrov said in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram published on the ministry's website.

As for the arms deals with Syria which has long been criticized by some Western countries, Lavrov reiterated Russia's stance that it was fulfilling old contracts consisting mainly of air-defense systems.

"Such export of arms has a defensive nature and doesn't contract any international conventions," said the top Russian diplomat.

Meanwhile, Lavrov accused some "foreign partners" of providing all kinds of assistance to the armed opposition groups in Syria, which stirred up the already turbulent situation in that country.

Lavrov urged all countries to follow the Geneva agreement reached by the Action Group on Syria on June, facilitate a political settlement based on consensus reached by Syrian government and the opposition to end the prolonged crisis.

If all relevant parties played their roles properly, "the mission of the UN-Arab League special joint envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, would have much better chances of success," Lavrov said.

The senior Russian diplomat arrived in Cairo Sunday evening to begin his two-day visit to Egypt. He attended a meeting Sunday night with Secretary- General of the Arab League (AL) Nabil al- Arabi and Brahimi, in a bid to crystallize a joint vision or a new plan to solve the Syrian crisis. Endite

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