YEREVAN. – Sending a mission to Syria is a humanitarian action, and it’s legitimate, Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan said on the air of Public Television of Armenia.

“I would not like to repeat those arguments that we have given; they were relating to the legitimacy, the right time to do such action within international relations,” Tonoyan stated. “One country reacts [to such action] positively, another country—not positively, or states that it doesn’t support our actions.

“Of course, it’s a matter of time, everything will be settled; our action [in Syria] is solely humanitarian.”

As reported earlier, the US embassy in Armenia had provided the US Department of State’s position on Armenia sending a team of specialists to Syria.

“We recognize the desire of other nations to respond to the humanitarian situation in Syria, and we share the concerns about protecting religious minorities in the Middle East,” the State Department had noted, in particular. “However, we do not support any engagement with Syrian military forces, whether that engagement is to provide assistance to civilians or is military in nature.”

An 83-member team—comprising deminers, doctors, and their security professionals—traveled from Armenia to Aleppo, Syria on February 8, to provide humanitarian and professional assistance to the Syrian people.