Mr Assad said his armed forces would try to retake all of Syria but that the involvement of regional players “means that the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price”.
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The war has also created a power struggle outside of Syria, with Russian Federation supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad although it says it is helping the global alliance fighting IS.
Assad said that he supported negotiations to end the violence in the country, but added that the fight against what he called “terrorism” must continue.
In an interview, Mr Assad said the “political” and “military” tracks to end the war in Syria were separate, meaning he would keep up his attempts to win the war even if peace talks went ahead.
Syrian rebels have been sent “excellent quantities” of ground-to-ground Grad missiles by foreign backers in recent days, to help them confront a Russian-backed offensive by the government north of Aleppo, two rebel commanders told Reuters on Friday.
Direct intervention He warned of the possibility of direct intervention by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who back the rebels.
The displaced could join a wave of more than four million Syrian refugees who have left the country since the conflict began in March 2011.
The failure to include al-Nusra was particularly important, Barnes-Dacey said, since the group is active in Aleppo and surrounding regions, and numerous more “moderate” rebels have links with it.
But British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said ending fighting could only succeed if Russian Federation stopped air strikes supporting Syrian government forces’ advance against the opposition.
Accusing that Assad was violating global law, Kerry said “it is my belief and the belief of the majority of the members of this group that there will not be peace in Syria if Assad is determined to stay there and lead the country”.
“This effectively gives the green light for the Syrian government and its allies to carry on military action while paying lip service to the agreement”, said Barnes-Dacey.
Syrian government forces, supported by the Russians, will pursue their offensive to retake Aleppo, the country’s largest city, from rebel groups. “But I just don’t see how this is going to come about”. In Geneva today, officials today convened the first meeting of a humanitarian task force created under yesterday’s agreement.
Kerry said the cessation of hostilities, an intentionally more tentative phrasing than a full ceasefire would apply to all groups apart from “the terrorist organisations” of the militant Islamic State (IS) group and Al Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra.
Co-ordinator of Syria’s main opposition bloc, Riad Hijab, told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that to announce a cessation of hostilities before making progress in the political process “is not realistic, objective or logical”.
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At Thursday night’s press conference, the issue of whether a cessation of hostilities might cement Assad’s hold on power further – and allow him to continue attacks on rebel-held areas – was brought up a couple of times. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russian Federation are carrying out air strikes.
