The four-year armed conflict in Syria could be wrapped up in less than a year, if foreign aid to terrorist groups were cut in earnest, Syrian President Bashar Assad told the Dutch media ahead of peace talks in NY.
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Under the resolution, the United Nations must craft a plan for monitoring a ceasefire.
Divisions within the Syrian opposition have hampered efforts to resolve the conflict.
“We’re under no illusions about the obstacles that exist… especially about the future of President Assad” where “sharp differences” remain, Kerry said.
Fellow coalition member Samir Nashar said bombing by the regime and Russian Federation must stop for there to be a sustainable ceasefire. The Security Council met Friday after the latest round of talks by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which had gathered in NY to renew its push for peace.
On Thursday, Hijab, who defected from Assad’s government in 2012, won the backing of more than two thirds of the 34 delegates of opposition groups summoned to Riyadh by world powers in a bid to unite them and settle longstanding rivalries.
The resolution does not touch on this vital issue.
“Only a Syrian-led, inclusive dialogue can put an end to the untold suffering of the Syrian people”, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the Security Council.
“This is a unsafe logic, a risky approach”, RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.
“Such resolutions have never helped solving or sorting out the Syrian problems and Assad is still there”, Davutoglu said on Saturday, adding that his country would work towards bringing democracy to Syria.
The United Nations Security Council reached agreement Friday on a plan that aims to end civil war in Syria.
“The West and Russia’s position are coming closer together”, Alexander Baunov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, told AFP.
Like Russia, Iran has insisted publicly that Assad should only step down if he is voted out in an eventual election.
In its first resolution to focus on the politics of ending the brutal war, the 15-nation Council, meeting at the Foreign Minister level here yesterday, asked UN chief Ban Ki- moon to convene government and opposition representatives in formal talks next month on a political transition as a step to lasting peace, in line with the 2012 Geneva Communique.
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The war has killed more than 300,000 people according to some estimates, and sent millions of Syrians fleeing for neighbouring countries and Europe, giving rise to the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
