“We still need more consultations and negotiations to reach this point”, Bashar al-Assad said.
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Referring to a last week meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu, Lavrov reiterated that the US-led coalition does not quite understand the situation and the warring parties in Syria.
Sergey Lavrov, after talks in Vienna dedicated to the future of Syria and President Assad: “Our partners have an obsession with the figure of the Syrian president, but we have confirmed our position”. Defending Assad and his supporters, Moscow is depriving itself of the ability to influence the Syrian opposition, which could lead to Russian Federation losing out in the struggle for Syria. As a effect one has to assume that any new Syrian state will beholden to Putin; whether Assad is the leader or not, the new government and new military leaders will know to whom they owe their power.
The Southern Front alliance operates mostly near the border with Jordan and Israel – an area thus far not targeted in the Russian air strikes, but where the rebels are continuously fighting the Syrian army and allied militias. It also gives Russian Federation a chance of overcoming its present isolation by engaging the West in a political process in which it has a high stake.
However, the Russian media campaign to paint the Syria operation as a high-precision anti-terrorist fight appears to be working.
That condition was most likely the catalyst for Russian advancement in the area and the desire to build a major military facility there.
“We would like the Muslim world to get together and raise its voice against these massacres”, Ahmed said.
YouTubeAccording to the Levada Center, 48 percent of respondents said Russia’s air force is hitting Islamic State positions, while 13 percent said they were bombing Syrian opposition targets. After the meeting, the Syrian presidency’s Facebook page said Assad thanked Oman for its efforts to help the Syrians “realize their aspirations in a way that will put an end to their suffering from terrorism and maintain the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Syria is in the grip of an overlapping series of conflicts between Bashar al-Assad’s regime, opposition rebels, Kurdish groups and jihadist extremists.
But following the Russian military intervention in Syria last month, the rhetoric within parts of the US administration changed.
Russian Foreign Minister said Saturday that Russia wanted Syria to prepare for elections and indicated that his government would take firm action, if necessary, to move that process forward.
A member of the Russian delegation said on Sunday that Assad had expressed a willingness to hold new parliamentary and presidential elections, but only after Syria is “liberated” from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group.
“Victory over terrorism” is required for Assad to hold elections again, Russian legislator Alexander Yushchenko told reporters after meeting with Assad in Damascus, the Associated Press reports.
“I have already heard rumors that deals are being or will be made here that in a certain time period President Assad will go”, he said.
On Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Russian air strikes in Syria have killed at least 446 people, more than a third of them civilians.
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“They pledged to continue and intensify support to the moderate Syrian opposition while the political track is being pursued”.
