It’s impossible to work with Assad, Jubeir tells Lavrov

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister on Tuesday poured cold water on Russian calls to join forces with the Syrian authorities against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, insisting it would never work with President Bashar al-Assad.

In regard to a coalition where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Syrian government could possibly participate together is out of the question.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (left) and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir at a news conference after a meeting in Moscow yesterday.

But the agreement between Iran and six foreign powers that is expected to put the brakes on any effort by Tehran to develop nuclear weapons has opened up what analysts see as an opportunity to redefine political relationships in the Middle East.

But Moscow remains publicly optimistic on the initiative, while acknowledging the complexity of the process ahead.

Furthermore, he said the Gulf states no longer have the same priorities they did at the start of the Syria conflict.

Russian Federation says its support for Assad is unchanged.

The source said in a statement to Syrian News Agency that the medieval Saudi regime, which lacks any constitutional legitimacy and whose hands are stained with the blood of Syrian and Yemeni civilians, should be the last to talk about legitimacy because it lacks any semblance of it. “But, who will be president, Bashar Al-Assad or another one, is not very important”, said Boris Dolgov with the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. “I believe he can give up Assad”, the Turkish president said.

Iran sought mediation between the Syrian government and the UN to have former Secretary-General Kofi Annan and later Lakhdar Brahimi recognized as representatives of the UN special envoy to Syria, he said.

“The global community should exert more efforts to find a political solution to the situation in Syria”, Jordan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said on Wednesday during a joint appearance with Lebanese premier Tamam Salam.

The U.S.is leading a multinational coalition in air strikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria that Russian officials argue will have limited effectiveness. The US-led war coalition planned to provide “behind-the-lines” military support for the Jordanian operation, according the Financial Times.

Yet, four years of bloody civil war in Syria has not resulted in a victory for either side and offered space for extremist groups including ISIL and Al Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat Al Nusra to flourish.