The global roadmap for a Syrian peace process, approved unanimously by the United Nations Security Council, was a rare display of unity among major powers on a conflict that has claimed more than a quarter million lives, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Advertisement
Christmas Eve Forecast: Record-shattering warmth today
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in some parts of the country, but in others it feels more like a typical spring day. Green Christmas wins out this year with record-breaking temperatures making for a holiday that could get Heat Miser singing.
He explained the strategy gave Syrians a “real alternative… between war and peace”.
Two Arrested In Latest Counter-Terror Raids In Western Sydney
A police source told the ABC that the Merrylands home of Salihy raided this morning was also raided earlier this month. Police say their investigation disrupted the terror plot.
The text calls for the United Nations to present the council with options for monitoring a ceasefire within one month of adoption of the resolution.
Turkish forces and PKK engage in intense clashes
The three-decade conflict between Turkish security forces and the PKK rebels have claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people. Turkey and Russia have been at odds since Ankara downed a Russian jet last month saying it violated its airspace.
That is also why Washington is putting what was once a priority-pushing Assad out of power-on the backburner.
Kerry said that Assad had lost the ability to unite the country, adding however that demanding his immediate departure would prolong the war.
The plan outlined by US Secretary of State John Kerry aims to put into place a transitional government within six months and have elections within a year and a half.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad with his wife in a church on December 19, 2015.
He admitted Mr Assad’s future remained an obstacle.
The US president described the elected government of President Assad as illegitimate, saying bringing peace to the war-torn country is impossible “unless the government is considered legitimate by a majority of Syrians”.
For years, everyone insisted there was no military solution.
The Kingdom of Jordan, which was given the task of assembling a list of terrorist groups in Syria, reported that a number of countries it approached had handed over lists of 15, 20 or more organizations that they believed should be included in the terrorist category. This unanimous vote is a crucial step forward.
Within six months, the process should establish “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance”, and set a schedule for drafting a new constitution.
Friday’s resolution also expressed its support for this timeline.
Meanwhile, Syria’s main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, warned that earlier worldwide hopes for a ceasefire by January 1 were unrealistic.
“‘Within a month or so, two months, decisions are going to have to start to be made about the devolution of some power” and the creation of a transitional body agreed to by Syria’s government and opposition with full executive power, Kerry said.
The resolution asked Ban through the offices of his Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura to determine the modalities of a ceasefire and plan to support its implementation, while urging Member States, in particular members of the ISSG, to accelerate all efforts to achieve a ceasefire, including through pressing all relevant parties to adhere to one.
But Resolution 2254 strongly implies that negotiations should include every rebel group, except Jabhat al-Nusra, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Moscow began a campaign of airstrikes in September that have focused on more moderate forces fighting Assad in areas where the Islamic State group has little or no presence.
More than 250,000 people have died since the Assad government’s crackdown on political protests turned into a full-blown civil war in 2011.
Advertisement
The program is a simple framework – the minimum on which supporters of the opposition as well as the authorities could concur.
