Omani foreign minister meets Syria’s Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Oman’s top diplomat, Yussef bin Alawi, in Damascus on Monday, in a rare visit for a Gulf official since Syria’s conflict broke out, state media reported.

Oman has not cut diplomatic or political ties to Damascus, unlike other Arab countries in the Gulf.

They also discussed developments in the region, particularly the war against terrorism in Syria, and the ideas proposed on regional and global levels to help resolve the crisis in Syria.

The Syrian leader thanked Oman for efforts to support the Syrian people fighting for their sovereignty and territorial integrity and said that the success of the political process in Syria depended on defeat of terrorism.

Alawi said that the Sultanate is making its utmost efforts to help in reaching a solution for the Syrian crisis. Lavrov and bin Alawi, spoke in favour for the soonest launch of political settlement in Syria on the basis of the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Although there has been a series of meetings between major powers involved in Syria since Russian Federation intervened militarily, divisions remain over the fate of Assad in any solution to a crisis that has killed a quarter of a million people. Washington has said it could tolerate Assad during a short transition period, but that he would then have to exit the political stage.