It also backed a timeline previously agreed in Vienna for talks between Syria’s government and opposition in the country, followed by elections.
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Diplomats said the main problem in the negotiations on the resolution involved Russian and Iranian concerns about how to refer to a bloc of opposition groups that would join U.N.-led peace talks with the Syrian government. He urged key powers, including top Syria allies Russian Federation and Iran, to match their words with actions.
The resolution “undermines the outcome of the meetings of revolutionary forces in Riyadh and waters down previous United Nations resolutions concerning a political solution in Syria”, coalition head Khaled Khoja said on Twitter.
It came as US President Barack Obama, in his pre-Christmas address, said that as long as Bashar al Assad remains Syrian President, Syria can not be stable. Kerry rejected the idea that Friday’s vote and discussions put off tough decisions on that issue.
Kerry said that Assad had lost the ability to unite the country, adding however that demanding his immediate departure would prolong the war.
The coordinator of the opposition team that will negotiate with the Syrian government, former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, said in Saudi Arabia on Friday that Assad should have no role during a transitional period. “Now that we have a United Nations resolution… and a process moving”, he said, “the door is much more open… for us to consider greater ways of cooperation”.
The Syrian conflict has raged for almost five years, killing around a quarter of a million people.
“Thousands of people have been forced to live in grass and weeds”.
The resolution also called on the parties to immediately allow rapid and safe access throughout Syria for immediate humanitarian aid to reach all people in need, and to release arbitrarily detained persons, particularly women and children.
Diplomats said no breakthrough was expected.
The council, which met at Foreign Minister level, asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to convene Government and opposition representatives in formal negotiations early next month on a political transition as a step to lasting peace, in line with the 2012 Geneva Communique and consistent with the 14 November 2015 International Syria Support Group (ISSG) on the issue.
United States officials accused Russian Federation of using the opportunity to bomb rebels that USA forces had been helping to the fight against the depraved death cult.
The resolution appeared to paper over numerous members’ differences in the interests of starting a process that Kerry has said he hopes will take on its own momentum and propel compromise among the disparate Syrian and foreign actors fueling the war.
“In January, we expect to be at the table and implement a full cease-fire”, he said.
The meeting at New York Palace Hotel was attended by foreign ministers from 17 countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran.
Kerry said a start to the talks in the middle or end of the month would be more reasonable. ― Reuters picLONDON, Dec 19 ― The UN Security Council’s backing for a plan to end the civil war in Syria is a “great step forward” for resolving the crisis, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said today.
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The Kingdom of Jordan, which was given the task of assembling a list of terrorist groups in Syria, reported that a number of countries it approached had handed over lists of 15, 20 or more organizations that they believed should be included in the terrorist category.
