Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that those talks, along with discussions with the United States, had yielded progress on the conflict, although Moscow, Washington and Riyadh did not agree in full “as yet”.
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Turkey, which hosts 2.2 million refugees, is keen to establish a safe area for refugees to live inside Syria.
A Foreign Office spokesperson in London said the defence attache had expressed concern over Russia’s Syria policy during the meeting: “The Russian government sought clarification over inaccurate newspaper reports concerning RAF rules of engagement in Iraq”.
Russian Federation has been stepping up security, anxious about the threat from Islamist militants especially from the restive northern Caucasus returning home from the Middle East or Afghanistan, perhaps seeking revenge for Moscow’s military intervention against Syrian rebels. It has acknowledged that Russian Federation is crucial to any political solution to the Syria conflict but is also relying on Turkish help to stem the flow of refugees into Europe.
The White House said last Friday it was dropping the training program because it had not lived up to expectations, but said it would continue providing weapons to the “moderate” Syrian militants.
So that’s leading, Steve? “And today, rather than being able to count on their support and maintain the base they had in Syria, which they’ve had for a long time”.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond appeared anxious to leave no wriggle room on that question after several of his fellow foreign ministers also suggested that Assad would inevitably be involved in any transition. “We can be flexible about the timing of his departure but if we try to work with Assad, we will only drive the opposition into the arms of (Islamic State) – the very opposite of the outcome that we want”.
Speaking about the role of Assad in ending the conflict, Mogherini said it is a process that “has to have all the actors around the table”. After years of inaction in Syria, the 28-nation European Union is now desperate to stem the flow of migrants.
The EU’s position on Assad is unclear. “We are still carrying out extensive efforts to clarify the situation”. And right now, Assad is a reality again, he is a fact.
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Syrian army and allied forces supported by Russian warplanes made further advances as they pressed an offensive against insurgents on Monday, in the fiercest clashes for almost a week, a monitor said.
