On Friday, the United States disclosed plans to station its first ground troops in Syria for the war against Islamic State.
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“Sending American Special Forces into Syria is a major shift in policy that puts the United States on a potentially risky downward slope into a civil war with no end in sight”, said Sen.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington that U.S. President Barack Obama had ordered the deployment of fewer than 50 commandoes to assist moderate forces opposed seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The announcement was expected as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting at peace talks in Vienna.
He described the presence of foreign forces, particularly Iranian troops, as a roadblock to ending the fighting in a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and forced 11 million from their homes.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the move increased the risk of a “proxy war” developing in the region and urged greater co-operation between the USA and Russian militaries.
Jubeir said he believed the conflict in Yemen was entering a “final phase”, citing military advances made by a Riyadh-led coalition.
The United Nations chief says he’s encouraged by the talks in Vienna aiming to revive a Syrian political process to end the war.
Reuters quoted sources close to the talks as saying that Iran favored a six-month “transition” period in Syria followed by elections to decide the fate of Assad.
There is often a disconnect between the political opposition that have attended talks in the past and commanders and leaders of groups on the ground in Syria. The conflict has caused thousands of deaths, a refugee crisis and a security vacuum that has allowed Islamic State militants to gain a foothold in the country. In summer 2014, the Islamic State, which had begun a decade earlier as “Al Qaeda in Iraq” fighting the USA occupation of Iraq, suddenly emerged as a potent force, seizing large swaths of Syria and then Iraq.
He said that the participants in the Vienna talks discussed the idea of announcing a ceasefire in parallel with a political process, and that they agreed to continue these discussions with the participation of the United Nations taking into account that even if agreement is reached over a ceasefire, terrorist organizations will not be part of it, adding that a unified agreement in this regard hasn’t been reached.
Iran’s Amir-Abdollahian said in the TV interview that Tehran insisted in the Vienna talks that speaking of “people’s positions would not serve anyone”, in a reference to Assad’s presidency.
The new USA funds will support local and provincial councils, civil society activists, emergency services and other needs on the ground inside Syria. Russian Federation and Iran say outside forces can not dictate who leads Syria. “This is the first time we’ve had all the protagonists around a table together, and that is quite a remarkable achievement in itself”, said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
Kerry said the foreign ministers present in Austria’s capital all vowed to maintain Syria’s institutions, to protect the rights of all its citizens, to assure humanitarian access and to strive to defeat the Islamic State. That essentially would give Assad veto power over his would-be replacements.
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He said Syrian government forces had clearly broken global law by deliberately targeting civilians, including with air strikes on besieged areas and a government missile attack on a market on Friday, which medical workers said killed at least 70.
