Syrian war: Russian Federation capable of more, says Putin

“As a effect, our view has been that you can not bring peace to Syria, you can not get an end to the civil war unless you have a government that it is recognised as legitimate by a majority of that country”.

The resolution calls on the United Nations secretary-general to convene representatives of the Syrian government and opposition “to engage in formal negotiations on a political transition process on an urgent basis, with a target of early January 2016 for the initiation of talks”. The resolution foresees the first talks beginning in January. “There obviously remain sharp differences within the worldwide community, especially about the future of President Assad”, Kerry added.

“So there is a possibility – I put it no higher than that – that Friday’s meeting will end with a UN Security Council resolution”.

Iran is the main backer of Bashar al-Assad’s government, and has provided financial and military support to pro-government forces fighting in Syria.

“Despite the important step that we have taken with today’s resolution, despite the progress we have made in Vienna, despite the important steps forward taken at the meeting in Riyadh, there is still a very long way to go”.

O’Malley emphasized the importance of a political process in Syria, expressing hope that it would be possible to “springboard off of this new United Nations resolution”.

Another key question is whether Mr Assad will allow his regime to join any peace talks, particularly as he describes all his armed enemies as “terrorists”.

Within six months, the process should establish “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance”, with U.N.-supervised “free and fair elections” to be held within 18 months.

“We also have other things as well and will use them if necessary”, the Russian president said.

“There must be safeguards regarding the exit of Bashar al-Assad”, declared Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Lavrov said the UN’s envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will work on forming an opposition delegation that could start talks with the Assad government early next month.

“Terrorist groups have no place in this national dialogue”, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted by the official Irna news agency as saying.

He was speaking in NY, where 17 nations including Russian Federation, the United States, and regional rivals Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia met on Friday to discuss a road map for peace in Syria.

It reiterated previous calls for Member States to suppress terrorist acts by Islamic State, Al-Nusra Front and all others.

“Here is affirmation of the fundamental principles of the political settlement, namely that Syria should remain unified, secular, pluri-religious and pluri-ethnic, comfortable and safe for all groups of its people and only the Syrian people themselves can define its future”, said Lavrov.