Foreign ministers from the Friends of Syria group were hosted by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who pledged to intensify Britain’s efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.
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The fighting sent tens of thousands fleeing in the latest wave, part of a pattern that has displaced almost half of Syria’s population since the war began in 2011.
Johnson said the group’s proposals offered the first credible picture of a peaceful Syria without Assad. “The Russians and Americans know that”, said Hijab.
The High Negotiations Committee, the main Syrian opposition group at stalled United Nations -mediated peace talks, will propose a gradual transition, starting with six months of negotiations accompanied by a total ceasefire and full humanitarian access.
With prospects for peace elusive, the broad-based opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) – holding talks with its foreign allies in London – proposed a six-month negotiating phase with the regime.
Said to be based on the Geneva Communique made in 2014 by worldwide mediators, the plan allocates six months to finalizing a peace deal before moving on to the 1.5-year second stage, when a transitional government would preside between the departure of Assad and fresh elections.
The second phase starts with the formation of a transitional government and lasts for 18-month.
Earlier in the day, President Obama said he had “some skepticism” about a deal with Russian Federation, given that Moscow’s support for the Assad regime has prolonged and exacerbated the violence.
Rhodes also commended Turkey’s operations in Jarablus to rid its border of DAESH terrorists, saying it “has been a key priority” for a long time.
Writing in the Times, he said that while the Kremlin has accepted there must be a political transition in the Middle Eastern country, Mr Johnson identifies that the “Russians are also employing their military muscle to prevent him [Assad] from losing, to keep him in power”.
Pro-regime forces also overran a strategically important district on the southern outskirts of Aleppo Thursday, rolling back almost every gain from a major month-long rebel offensive there, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He acknowledged that a flurry of diplomacy at an economic summit and a 90-minute meeting earlier Monday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, did not yield a breakthrough.
Obama floated the idea of joint action with Turkey to capture Raqqa during talks between the two leaders at the G20 summit in China, Erdogan said, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet daily.
Turkey says it is now ready to operate with the U.S. against the biggest Islamic State stronghold of all – their de facto capital Raqqa.
Dr Hijab said the HNC had spelled out in detail how a transitional government would work and made clear that the opposition was ready to share power with regime figures who have not committed “crimes against the Syrian people”. Capturing the town would allow the Kurds to link up their main territory in northeastern Syria with an enclave they control in the northwest. The regime’s forces have hit back with heavy air strikes.
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Elsewhere, fighting between Islamic insurgents and government forces in Syria’s central Hama province displaced around 100,000 people over eight days.
