Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir pose for a photo upon arrival for a meeting to discuss the Syrian conflict in Vienna.
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Russia’s Lavrov said that he wanted Iran and Egypt to take part in any future talks on Syria.
Jordan, however, is Sunni-dominated and closely aligned with Washington, so Moscow’s deal with Jordan could mark a shift in the alliances engaged in the Syria conflict.
And Russian Federation and Jordan said they had agreed to “coordinate” their military operations in Syria.
“I asked him: “What view would you take if we found, now in Syria, an armed opposition which nonetheless was ready to oppose and really fight against terrorists, against Islamic State?”.
The Obama administration is still focused on “getting a political transition in Syria” at the Vienna talks between Kerry, Lavrov and their counterparts from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
Talbiseh, north of the provincial capital Homs, has come under intense airstrikes by Syrian and Russian jets since Russia launched its air campaign. “This foresees the start of full-scale talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the full spectrum of the Syrian opposition, both domestic and external – with the support of outside players”.
Sources in President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said the Turkish leader had used a call with Putin on Wednesday to emphasise his concerns about links between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, and militia connected to the Kurdish PYD party in Syria.
It remains unclear whether they will be able to resolve their competing interests and goals in the country’s civil war.
Russian Federation is now carrying out its own bombing campaign there at Assad’s request, targeting IS militants and other “terrorist” groups.
“But if we can get into a political process, then sometimes these things have a way of resolving themselves”.
The Russian president went on: “We are now thinking about this and are trying, if it works out, to reach these agreements”.
Syrian activists said on Friday that at least 14 civilians, including seven children and a baby, were killed when Syrian jets bombed a town in the central Syrian province of Homs.
“What we agreed to do today is to consult with all parties and aim to reconvene, hopefully as early as next Friday, with a broader meeting in order to explore whether there is sufficient common ground to advance a meaningful political process”, Kerry said. In an interview in September, Syrian PYD leader Salih Muslim said in an interview that the overthrow of Assad would result in “disaster for everyone”, that, while he supported the removal of Assad from power, “we would not feel safe in our home so long as there is one Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] left alive”, and giving ISIS a power vacuum to fill would be “dangerous”.
Mr Peskov also said Russian Federation wanted to exchange military information with the United States, including about targets of air strikes, but this had not been forthcoming.
The US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been adamant that Syria’s president is unfit to lead as civil war erupted under his watch.
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“First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria”, Assad told Putin.
