US Secretary of State John Kerry, who presided over the 15-member council’s ministerial level session, said the resolution sends a message that “the time is now to stop the killing in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government” that does not leave Syrians with a choice between Assad and the Islamic State.
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Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry shake hands following a news conference after a United Nations Security Council meeting on Syria at the United Nations in NY on December 18, 2015.
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The resolution also “calls upon all states to use their influence on the government of Syria and the Syrian opposition in order to advance the peace process, promote the implementation of confidence-building measures and steps towards a ceasefire”.
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Russian Federation has made clear to Western nations that it has no objection to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace process, in a softening of its publicly stated staunch backing of Assad ahead of talks in NY, diplomats said.
Russian Federation – a key ally of the Syrian president – has previously blocked resolutions critical of Mr Assad at the UN Security Council and has continued to supply weapons to the Syrian military despite worldwide criticism.
“We have emphasised from the beginning that for this to work it has to be implemented by the men and women of Syria and can not be opposed from the outside”, Kerry said.
The resolution has been described as a rare gesture of unity on the Syria peace process by a council often deeply divided on the crisis, which is deep into its fifth year with well over 300,000 killed.
Foreign ministers from 17 countries met for more than five hours to discuss the deal.
The talks between Syria’s government and opposition should begin in early January, the resolution said.
A new round of negotiations took place in NY this week, but it did not tackle the conundrum of questions haunting average Syrian citizens: Would President Bashar Assad and his Alawite minority continue to rule the country?
Diplomats said no breakthrough was expected.
Talks between the government and opposition groups could start as early as January, according to the resolution.
And Syria’s main opposition group said a January 1 deadline for starting talks was “too ambitious”.
Also present were United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, his Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.
It reiterated previous calls for Member States to suppress terrorist acts by Islamic State, Al-Nusra Front and all others.
The draft notes that the cease-fire “will not apply to offensive or defensive actions” against groups considered terrorist organizations, meaning that airstrikes by Russia, France and the U.S.-led coalition apparently would not be affected.
Kerry said that there were still sharp disagreements between the ISSG parties, some of which sponsor armed factions on the ground, as to which groups should be banned.
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The New York talks are the first meeting of the International Syria Support Group since Saudi Arabia gathered a coalition of Syria rebel groups to form an opposition negotiating team.
