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Iran says it will keep backing Syria regime

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Saturday welcomed the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 aimed at bringing peace to Syria.

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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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This is the only way to settle the conflict in Syria, outline a Syrian constitution and hold Syrian elections under United Nations supervision, the Egyptian top diplomat said. “There obviously remain sharp differences within the global community, especially about the future of President Assad”.


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Wang noted the “severe threat posed by global terrorism”, a reference to the Islamic State group, which has exploited the chaos to seize large parts of Syria.

The Security Council met Friday after the latest round of talks by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which had gathered in NY to renew its push for peace.

Like Russia, Iran is a firm ally of Assad and is helping him militarily against anti-government forces.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said: “I do not think that everyone who is there on the ground should be invited to participate in the talks”. Fabius said. “The idea that he could once again stand for elections is unacceptable to us”.

During a break in Friday’s talks, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said he had presented a document compiling the groups each country attending considered to be a “terrorist” organisation.

“Clarity is needed here, so, as [US Secretary of State] John [Kerry] said, we have agreed to work out criteria so that in the future other obvious terrorist groups could be added to ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra”.

Asked about a definition of what constitutes a terrorist organization, Shoukry said that the Syria Support Group (SSG) has been seeking to make a list of terrorist organizations that should be excluded.

A group of countries will join Jordan in developing that list, Kerry told reporters, without giving details.

On Thursday, Hijab, who defected from Assad’s government in 2012, won the backing of more than two thirds of the 34 delegates of opposition groups summoned to Riyadh by world powers in a bid to unite them and settle longstanding rivalries.

In a dig at Saudi Arabia, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in The Guardian on Friday 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”.

A peace plan agreed last month by 20 nations meeting in Vienna sets a deadline of January 1 for the start of negotiations.

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They said Russian Federation had indicated it had no problem with the eventual ouster of Assad at the end of a transition period, though it would not admit that publicly.

UN Security Council backs Syria peace plan