US Softening Stance on ‘Regime Change’ in Syria?

“I think the world benefits when powerful nations with a long history have the ability to be able to find common ground, and today I hope we can find some common ground”, Kerry said in comments released by the State Department.

Less than a month ago, President Obama for the umpteenth time in 4-1/2 years said Syrian dictator Bashar Assad must go: “I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power”.

Russian Federation and the United States said that a planned global meeting on the Syrian crisis would take place in NY on Friday, after President Vladimir Putin received US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Speaking through a translator, Lavrov said he wanted to continue the dialogue initiated earlier by President Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama on how the United States could assist in “Ukrainian settlement”.

But in Tuesday’s talks, the two sides did not focus on their differences or what could or could not be done immediately about Assad but on the political process, Kerry said.

United States aircraft carry out daily air strikes against IS targets, a lot of them in the Iraqi part of the jihadists’ self-proclaimed “caliphate”, which also covers regions in Syria.

However, both Russian Federation and the USA agree on the need to stamp out Islamic State, which has gained significant territory in war-torn Syria and Iraq in the past couple of years. The U.S. insists that Assad is to blame for the conflict and must step down, although recently it has been softening its position, suggesting Assad could remain through a transition period.

Both these issues would be discussed with Mr Putin at the Kremlin later in the day.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the capture of Nouba mountain opens the way for government forces to approach the rebel stronghold of Salma.

Russia, in contrast, has held to the same line since the beginning: Outside governments, according to Russia, have no say in determining internal sovereignty in Syria.

He said he and Putin did reach “common ground” on which Syrian opposition groups would be invited to participate in the Syrian peace talks in NY.

“We had a good discussion on Ukraine”, Kerry said, adding that when Russian Federation meets the conditions set out in a Western-brokered peace agreement, “sanctions can begin to be rolled back”.

He said Kerry would address “challenges” in recent weeks in enforcing a cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebels.

“Armenpress” reports referring to Sputnik International that Kerry announced that Russian Federation and the United States had discussed exchanging data on the locations of anti-terrorist operations, and that Washington is not pursuing a policy of isolating Russian Federation.