Syrian presidency says ‘terrorism’ must be eliminated before initiatives

But so far the U.S.-led coalition has refused to cooperate with Russia’s operations beyond a basic agreement meant to prevent midair incidents. But the Russian response has been consistently to rebuke Kerry’s offers. U.S. diplomats said the evening talks between Kerry and the Saudi monarch would focus on the Syria war.

The Saudi talks follow a meeting Friday in Vienna between Kerry and the foreign ministers of Russian Federation, Turkey and Saudi Arabia on ways to end the Syria conflict.

On several occasions, American officials have pointed hopefully to Assad’s weakening position and apparent softening in Russia’s stance on Assad only to have those hopes dashed by Russian consistency on the matter. “All this is not so”.

In a rare trip, President Bashar Assad himself traveled to Moscow last week, in his first visit out of the country since the war began in 2011. But recently there have been a series of signs from Washington to London to Paris to Berlin, as well as other Western capitals, that they are changing tack on the issue, accepting Assad’s remaining in power perhaps for a brief period-a change that has come perhaps as a result of the influx of thousands of Syrian refugees into Europe. “Sometimes he says we do not exist, and sometimes he is willing to coordinate with us”.

The peace process in the war-torn country must be “inclusive” and all opposition groups and “significant” foreign countries must be included, Lavrov said, adding that anything else was “unsuitable”.

The leaders of Russian Federation and Iran both have ramped up their propaganda machines to project images of surging regional influence within Syria.

“I very much count on not just Iran, but also other countries whose absence makes it hard to speak of the representative nature of this work, being invited to the next round of negotiations”, Lavrov said. And it’s not that you ignore him or cast him off as a megalomaniac.

Ghadbian said in a letter to the UN Security Council that Russian Federation has carried out more than 297 airstrikes since initiating its campaign on September 30.

“An Arab Israeli has crossed into Syria using a paraglider with the apparent goal of joining rebel fighters there, the Israeli army said on Sunday”.

Thus far, Iran has mostly sent military advisers to Syria. But Moscow also wants to underline to the US and its allies how disunited the Free Syrian Army is and how hard it is to negotiate with them. He could potentially resume his diplomatic efforts on Syria along his way back to the United States. The rewards go beyond Moscow’s increasing role in Syria.

Retired Gen. Jack Keane testified last week that Moscow is betting on USA inaction.

Those concerns boiled over Tuesday as Senate Armed Services Committee members peppered Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford with questions about why the United States would not confront Assad militarily.

Over the next few months or even weeks, we will see a counter-attack by the Syrian army, and an attempt to consolidate its positions with the help of Russian Federation and Iran in places like Aleppo. “Russia, as Assad’s protector, will now play the decisive role”.

The army said the man had taken off from the southern section of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, adjacent to southern Syria. Over the long term, there is a contradiction in Kerry’s plan. Putin is either the key to a peaceful resolution in Syria or the main obstacle.