Syria’s main opposition negotiating group said it would refuse any deal concluded between Russian Federation and the United States on Syria’s fate that was very different from its own proposed transition plan, the group’s general coordinator Riyad Hijab said on Wednesday in London as he presented his group’s road map for peace in Syria.
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It would require President Bashar al-Assad to leave office at the end of those six months.
But Kerry’s spokesman would not confirm the meeting, suggesting last-minute negotiations were ongoing.
US President Barack Obama earlier held talks with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China but the two, on opposite sides in Syria, failed to bridge their differences.
The US has flagged new efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement with Russian Federation in talks tomorrow.
Lavrov suggested that problems in another part of the world – namely, U.S. sanctions against Russian Federation over the Ukraine crisis – may be hampering efforts between the former Cold War rivals to resolve “regional conflicts”, a reference to the Syrian war.
The main Syrian opposition umbrella group says it hopes a new U.S.
President Assad would then be removed from power and a transitional government made up of opposition figures and current government put in place for 18 months.
Kodmani says mechanisms will be needed for the enforcement of the deal, including the “cessation of hostilities and the grounding (of) regime air forces”.
“Unfortunately so far, Russia, with its support for the Assad regime, has made the situation in Syria more risky, more prolonged and more violent”.
“It’s not a question of keeping Assad in for six months or one month or one day, in this transitional period”.
“Such allegations are taken very seriously”.
Hamza al-Khatib, who heads an Aleppo medical center, said Afifa had been in intensive care following the suspected chlorine attack.
Those efforts were complicated by a significant offensive in the southern part of the divided city of Aleppo where al-Qaeda- linked groups had become more intermingled with opposition fighters.
France’s Ayrault said the UN Security Council should condemn the Assad regime and IS “for their continued use of chemical weapons”.
“The Syrian Council, presided over by Mr Hijab, who attended this meeting, has done remarkable work in its proposition for a united, democratic and secular Syria which would at the same time allow respect for all religions and all minorities”.
The British diplomat accused Assad of “barbaric military tactics” in the ongoing conflict and criticised Russia’s “seemingly indefensible conduct” in backing him.
“The entire worldwide community is committed, at least in principle, to getting rid of the Syrian dictator. Even the Russians have accepted that there must be political transition”, he wrote.
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The meeting will bring together France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Jordan, Italy and the European Union along with Turkey and the host country, the United Kingdom.
