The Syrian leader compared the Paris attacks to events in Syria, saying that his country has endured terrorism during the civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people.
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German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced that diplomats had agreed to hold elections in Syria within 18 months. “We all recognize the urgency of the moment”, Kerry said, though he also acknowledged that the deadlines would be hard to meet.
At a joint press conference of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, the Russian minister said that what happened in Paris, the series of the terrorist attacks, should convince everyone that terrorism can not be justified by anything.
Not everyone in the region is ready for an immediate ceasefire, he added, but mentioned that it has been agreed that the violence should come to an end and be “parallel” to the process of political transition.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s meeting, Mr Cameron said: “It’s become even more clear that our safety and security depends on degrading and ultimately destroying Isil whether it’s in Iraq or Syria”.
And he said they should help poorer states financially to enable them to raise their standards, and to assist those – like Tunisia – whose tourist industries have suffered a slump in business as a result of terrorism.
All nations involved cannot allow terrorists to take advantage of their disagreements and let their power grow just because “we can not agree on a few things”, Kerry said.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the countries sitting around the table have “almost all experienced the same pain, the same terror”, citing the recent Russian plane disaster in Egypt and suicide bombings in Beirut and Turkey.
U.S.-Russian disputes on what, if any role, Assad should play in any transition remained after Saturday’s meeting in Vienna, although U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov played them down as they focused on the progress made. Therein may lie the problem in the plan: Moscow considers all groups battling Assad to be terrorist groups.
But Russian Federation, carrying out air strikes against Syrian rebels since late September, is sticking by Assad along with Iran.
Syria’s sovereignty not negotiable either with friends or enemies, the Syrian information minister said on Sunday, in apparent response to the outcome of the Vienna talks a day earlier.
“Without any guarantees over the fate of Assad, the prosecution of war crimes, or opposition participation in a future government, it’s hard to see how the opposition could accept this framework”, Barrett told Al Jazeera.
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The comments reflect an apparent desire by Assad to rally worldwide support for his government against the Islamic State militant group, which asserted responsibility on social media for the Paris attacks. Foreign ministers from more than a dozen nations have begun meeting in Vienna seeking to find a way to resolve the conflict in Syria.
