Russia backtracks on support for Assad

De Mistura has since been to Damascus to brief the government on the talks and called for new ceasefires on the ground to build on the diplomatic efforts.

“We intend to develop a common and unambiguous understanding of which of the armed groups are terrorists”, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters.

Not long after the remarks were made, Zakharov sought to clarify them with another Russian media outlet; “I can confirm that Russia’s position on resolving the Syrian (crisis) has not changed”, she said.

“As we accelerate our own work with Turkey and other like-minded partners to roll back ISIL in northern Syria, a collateral benefit could be the creation of a space where Syrian civilians are free from Assad’s barrel bombs, as well as ISIL’s atrocities”, she said.

Friday’s worldwide assembly on Syria didn’t produce any settlement over the way forward for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, though key gamers discovered a few widespread floor over the answer for the struggle-torn nation.

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj Genl Mohammad Ali Jafari, acknowledged that Russian Federation “may not care if Assad stays in power as we do”. They maintained that it has never been and is still not their intention to interfere in that, saying that it is entirely up to the Syrian people to elect whoever they want.

Syrian government officials and members of the country’s splintered opposition could meet in Moscow next week.

On Tuesday Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Moscow would invite representatives of the Syrian government and opposition forces next week to hold a third consultative meeting in the Russian capital.

“Moscow has cynically tried to claim that its strikes are focused on terrorists, but so far, 85 to 90 percent of Syrian strikes have hit the moderate Syrian opposition and they have killed civilians in the process”, Patterson said.

One of the reasons for the surge in Russian troops is to provide artillery support for Assad’s forces in the contested cities of Hama and Homs, said Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs. He said that Russian Federation, unlike Iran, “is not concerned with Assad’s survival”, stressing that Iran sees no alternative to the current Syrian leader.

Mr Khoja said last week that a Russian campaign of air strikes in Syria was meant to prop up Mr Al Assad and had helped ISIL.

The SNC has been accused of slipping into virtual irrelevance on the battlefield in Syria as extremist and Kurdish groups have grown stronger. But it remains one of the main parties in worldwide discussions to end the war.

Shortly after the bombing campaign began a group of US-trained rebels said their base in Idlib province had been hit by four Russian war planes.

It was also a rare heavy Russian bombardment targeting Islamic State rather than other insurgent groups.