The resolution does not, however, touch on the question of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fate.
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“He (Trump) says he wants to move to another level of relations, to closer and deeper relations with Russian Federation, how can we not welcome that?”
“President Assad has lost the ability, the credibility, to be able to unite the country and provide the moral credibility to be able to govern it into the future”, Kerry said.
United Nations diplomats were working Friday to iron out differences over a draft Security Council resolution endorsing the Syrian peace process just hours before a council meeting called to adopt the measure, diplomats said.
Iran is the main backer of Bashar al-Assad’s government, and has provided financial and military support to pro-government forces fighting in Syria.
The United States and Arab allies remain convinced Assad must leave office as part of the process, but his allies Moscow and Tehran insist this is a decision for the Syrian people.
The Russian plan for settling the conflict “strangely as it may seem, coincides with the USA vision in its key aspects: joint work on a constitution, creation of instruments of control over future early elections, holding the vote and recognizing its results on the basis of that political process”, Putin said.
The resolution does not address Assad’s fate.
The resolution also calls for the U.N.to present the council with options for monitoring a ceasefire within one month.
Talks between Syria’s government and opposition should begin in early January, the resolution said, though Kerry said mid-to-late January was more likely. He also emphasised that bringing an end to the Syrian civil war is also as important as the destruction of the Islamic State.
The New York Friday meeting comes following two rounds of talks held in the Austrian capital of Vienna on October 30 and November 14 to discuss settlement of the ongoing crisis in Syria. In a statement obtained by Reuters, he said that “it is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond”. “There will be follow-up steps to set the criteria (for which are to be labelled terrorist groups)”.
Any halt to hostilities would not apply to air strikes against so-called Islamic State (IS) – also known as Isis, Isil and Daesh – and other terrorist groups, it makes clear, amid fears they could otherwise benefit.
“Purely as a matter of reality, if the war is to end it is imperative that the Syrian people agree to an alternative in terms of their governance”, he said.
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U.S. secretary of state John Kerry, who joined Mr Hammond and other foreign ministers for talks among the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) in NY, said that by setting out clear goals and timings, the resolution was a clear “milestone”.
