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UN OKs peace process for Syria

The peace plan calls for talks between the Syrian government and opposition in early January, a transitional government within six months, and elections under United Nations supervision within 18 months.

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praised “the unprecedented degree of unity” in the council, which has been stymied in the past over a political solution in Syria, and called the resolution “a milestone”.


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Addressing the United Nations meeting, Hammond said: “Sadly it is far too soon for any of us to predict an end to the Syria conflict”.


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“We see a country in ruins, millions of its people scattered across the world, and a whirlwind of radicalism and sectarianism that challenges regional and global security”, Ban said.

But Washington and Moscow remain split over the fate of Assad and which groups fighting in Syria should be designated “terrorists” and therefore excluded from negotiations.

The resolution also asks UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report back within a month on options for cease-fire monitoring, verification and reporting.

The agreementrepresents one of the strongestappeals for peace by the council, divided for years on the issue of Syria’s war.

Russian Federation has rejected the possibility of Assad’s ousting to be a prerequisite for the start of talks between the forces in combat.

“It is possible that the Syrian people decide Assad should leave, and then he must leave”, the official added.

The deputy minister gave warning there were “severe differences over a list of terrorist groups”.

“Iran was not happy with those communiques but it allowed them to go ahead”, a senior Western diplomat said this week.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin suggested there were significant disagreements on the draft resolution among the Security Council’s five veto powers – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Kerry told reporters on Friday that the debate about Assad “is not being kicked down the road” and is becoming part of “a more urgent and necessary transition process”.

The question of Assad’s departure is the biggest sticking point among major powers as they hammer out plans for a political process in Syria leading to elections within two years.

It also calls on the International Team for the Support of Syria to use its influence to reach those goals and demands full implementation of the resolutions: 2139 in 2014, 2165 in 2014, and 2191 in 2014 and other relevant decisions.

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In a dig at Saudi Arabia, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in The Guardian yesterday that it was “utterly absurd that those who have denied their own population the most rudimentary tenets of democracy … are now self-declared champions of democracy in Syria”.

Syrian President Bashar al Assad has portrayed himself in recent interviews with the Western media as a protector of Syria's minorities. – Reut