At a meeting of foreign ministers on October 30, the first time Iran joined the worldwide talks, 17 powers, the European Union and the United Nations signed off a joint communiqué aimed at a transition, which would keep Syria united, leave Syria’s major institutions intact and ensure an inclusive future government.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the carnage, claimed by Syria-based Islamic State, underscored “the urgency of the moment” for all participants to move beyond their continuing deep disagreements over Syria, including Assad’s responsibility for the growth of the militant movement, and whether he has any role in Syria’s future.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was agreement that attacks such as those in Paris and Beirut, as well as events in Iraq, were the most “vile, horrendous, outrageous unacceptable acts on the planet”.
Saturday’s meeting will include senior officials from 19 nations and groups and aims to chart a way toward a cease-fire and political transition in Syria to end the country’s devastating war.
Heading into a second round of talks in Vienna in as many months, Kerry said that representatives of the 65-member coalition are undertaking a “renewed political initiative” that is broader “and more action-oriented” than any previous attempts to “isolate the terrorists and set Syria on the path to peace”. But Western powers say those strikes have mainly targeted armed groups other than IS, such as pro-Western rebel militias.
All of the available polling that has been done by Western polling firms in Syria has indicated strongly that the current President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, would easily win any free and fair election in that country.
He said he is convinced that a dialogue with not only the opposition but also the Syrian government must be conducted within the political negotiations. “For me it is absolutely clear that yesterday’s horrors in Paris should convince the last skeptics that not only can terrorism not be justified by anything, but our passivity also cannot be justified by anything in the fight against this evil”, he said. “We have repeatedly invited them to a particular conversation, with specific cards for specific purposes, marked on these maps, asked our colleagues to express concerns and to explain what we are doing wrong”, Lavrov said. “One of the reasons this war is now four years old”, he said, is that it has been the “policy of numerous countries, mine included, that Assad has to go”.
The Vienna talks are expected to focus on identifying Syria’s moderate opposition groups, as well as those that are considered terrorist entities.
The diplomats agreed on a means to enforce a cease-fire but failed to agree on which groups other than the Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates would not be eligible for the truce.
So, the United States Government demands that Assad be simply removed from office, and not allowed on the ballot, if an election for President is to be held at all in Syria.
“We did not come here to impose our collective will on the Syrian people, exactly the opposite”, he told reporters at the end of the talks.
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“When you call out for a genuine representation, you have to bring everyone who believes in genuine democracy and equality of all under the rule of law”, Assad said in a Thursday interview. The meeting comes amid new pushes against Islamic State group extremists in Syria and Iraq.
