But the Pentagon has claimed that over 90% of Russian strikes in Syria have not targeted the Islamic State.
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As for who should run the country, ‘it is all in the hands of the Syrians. It is unclear how far Tehran, which has pumped billions of dollars into supporting Assad, would compromise following its nuclear deal with the West.
Otherwise, the diplomatic momentum that led to the first truly inclusive global effort to end the bloodbath in Syria could be squandered – and Syrian civilians will be the ones to pay the price. The rebels include Western-backed “moderates” and Arab-supported Islamist groups, as well as al-Qaida-linked militias.
Overall, victims of ISIS number in the thousands from the Islamic state’s violent brutality. No common understanding has been reached.
Foreign ministers from Europe, the USA and beyond are again expected in Vienna late next week to discuss ways of winding down the Syria conflict and setting in motion a few kind of political transition. The USA, too, wants to be sure that no militias it has been supplying with weapons are designated as terrorists.
“We need to compile a single list of extremist organizations”. The shift has occurred although the Obama administration vowed to “redouble” efforts to counter Iran’s regional ambitions.
It says the composition of the opposition delegation to the political talks “has to be agreed beforehand, including on the basis of readiness of respective groups to share the goals of preventing terrorists from coming to power in Syria and of ensuring sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Syria, as well as secular and democratic character of the state”.
That could be the rub. Mr Assad’s government routinely labels all those who oppose it as “terrorists”.
“It’s important to see the words used in the draft resolution condemning Iranian and Russian intervention in Syria”, said a diplomat, preferring anonymity.
Russian Federation has maintained since the beginning that it is not wedded to Assad as such but rather to the maintenance of the Syrian state. Eleven million have been uprooted from their homes.
It would blast Daesh and other radical militant groups for widespread rights abuses. Numerous meetings took place in Oslo and Stockholm.
And interests sharply diverge.
“The political future of Dr. Bashar Assad should only be decided by the Syrian people in democratic elections”, said Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, speaking in Beirut on Wednesday following a visit to Moscow.
But other countries may be getting the message.
‘We must first of all, in Syria, eradicate terrorism.
The meetings must “bring a few deliverables to the Syrian people – one of them should be reduction of violence”, Mr Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations peace envoy for Syria, told reporters after briefing the UN Security Council. That was denied by US and European Union officials.
Russian Federation began airstrikes in Syria six weeks ago after insurgents edged closer to government-held areas vital to Assad.
Western diplomats aren’t on board, but are proposing confidence-building measures to unite the opposition around the peace push. “Our today’s work will start with a bilateral meeting between Lavrov and Kerry, then … all will participate in a plenary meeting of the Syrian support group”, Zakharova told journalists.
A few elements of the Russian plan are less contentious, though timelines are in dispute.
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But the document did not specify that Assad would not be allowed to stand in those elections.
