Abu Dhabi: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was set to hold talks with senior Emirati and Saudi officials in Abu Dhabi on Monday to find ways to bring Syrian opposition groups together at a conference that will be hosted by Saudi Arabia next month.
Advertisement
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan accompanied US Secretary of State John Kerry on a tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
SECRETARY KERRY: Now, we have every single effort being made by Homeland Security, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, by Interpol, by intelligence communities exchanging information, and people are working hard at this. Later in the evening, Kerry is expected to meet with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir.
If rebels see new cooperation with Russian Federation as created to keep Syrian President Bashar Assad in power, “that complicates issues, and then you will have greater support going to bad actors”.
Kerry spoke as Brussels remained locked down with Belgian police making more arrests and continuing the hunt for the prime suspect of the November 13 Paris attacks who was seen crossing over into Belgium. Regrettably, for four years, this war in Syria has been going on and people have been traveling from all over the world to the amazement of many people, but they have been traveling even from the United States to go fight in Syria.
France is a member of the U.S.-led coalition that has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria since a year ago.
A few steps were in motion before the Paris attack, he said, such as a decision to deploy a small number of USA special forces to Syria and the continuing efforts toward a cease-fire between Syria’s government and rebel groups.
These would exclude IS and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front.
However, they could draw in groups such as Al Nusra’s powerful militant ally Ahrar Al Sham.
The hope is that if a broad enough “moderate” opposition coalition can enter a ceasefire and peace negotiations with Assad’s loyalists, a path to a political transition can be found.
Meanwhile, the various local and global armies who have been drawn into the conflict will be able to focus their fire on the hardline jihadists like the ISIL.
Speaking from Abu Dhabi where he is meeting with Arab leaders in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, Kerry said the coalition against ISIS has been ramping up efforts and will continue to do so.
“And”, he added, “under the right circumstances the answer is “yes”, it’s possible, but we need to get the political process moving, we’re weeks away, maybe one or two weeks”.
Advertisement
“You don’t want to categorize everybody automatically”, he said. “There is a strategy in place, growing by the day”, said Kerry, who’s in the United Arab Emirates, his first stop during his Middle East visit that also will include stops in Israel and the West Bank.
