Russia criticizes rejection of Syria resolution

The prospect of a truce in Syria resurfaced on Saturday after a source in the opposition group formed after talks in Moscow and Cairo told RIA Novosti that Russian Federation and the United States had prepared a document on the “cessation of hostilities” to take effect after its approval.

He said Assad and Russian Federation have spent “yet another week annihilating defenseless Syrians” and called on the worldwide community to implement a new approach that holds them to account.

Al-Jubeir added that the move must be studied carefully, “because you don’t want such weapons to fall into the wrong hands”.

Once he has control of the country, Assad also said in the interview, the next step would be to form a national unity government that would lay the groundwork for a new constitution and general elections. The one-page draft resolution makes no mention of Turkey but condemns “the ongoing shelling of Syria’s territory” and “the incessant flow of foreign terrorists and illegal arms supplies” carried out in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and “with the connivance or direct involvement of some states”, including Syria’s neighbors. “This is not Saudi Arabia’s decision”.

It was clearly aimed at Turkey, a leading backer of Syrian rebels which has threatened ground action and is continuing cross-border artillery shelling against a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria.

“The Kremlin is concerned about growing tensions on the Syrian-Turkish border”, Peskov said commenting on Ankara’s strikes at Kurdish positions in Syria’s north. He reminded that this topic was not discussed at yesterday’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Security Council permanent members.

“We can only express regret that this draft resolution was rejected”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Peskov stressed that Syrian government troops were coming under fire in the area being shelled by Turkey, as well as Kurdish fighters. It has also threatened to send in ground forces.

The main Kurdish group in Syria has denied firing at Turkey from Syria. The group has been on the offensive near the Turkish border, seizing territory from Turkey-backed Syrian rebels as well as the extremist Islamic State group.

Assad, whose fate has been a key sticking point in efforts to end Syria’s bloody civil war as it enters its sixth year, left open the question of whether he would still be president by then.