‘Agreement’ on United Nations draft on Syria, but no mention of Assad

It reiterated previous calls for Member States to suppress terrorist acts by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al-Nusra Front and all others with Al Qaeda, ISIL and other terrorist groups.

“According to him, the UN Secretary General and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, plays a leading role in the organization and support of the negotiating process with the outcome of the meetings of the Syrian opposition in Moscow, Cairo, Riyadh, Damascus and al-Hasakah”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon in NY on Friday told reporters that the meeting with the UN chief mostly focused on the developments in Syria and Yemen, as well as ways to successfully implement the nuclear accord. “President Assad in our judgment has lost the ability, the credibility to be able to unite the country and to provide the moral credibility to be able to govern it. Purely as a matter of reality, if the war is to end it is imperative that the Syrian people agree to an alternative in terms of their governance”.

“Now I think there will be follow-up steps in terms of countries meeting again to set criteria which will help filter the list”, said Judeh, whose country is tasked with putting the final list together.

The coordinator of the opposition team that will negotiate with the Syrian government, former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, said in Saudi Arabia on Friday that Assad should have no role during a transitional period.

The Security Council resolution calls for “free and fair elections” supervised by the United Nations within 18 months in which all Syrians would be eligible to vote. His successor Lakhdar Brahimi frequently beseeched the Council to do more and often apologised to the Syrian people for failing them. Ministers for France and Lithuania also said Assad “could not be seen as part of the solution to the crisis”.

Kerry made clear that there were still differences on the future of Assad, a close ally of Russian Federation and Iran who Western countries want ousted, as well as on the question of which Syrian opposition groups will have a seat at the table in talks with the government. He said some countries “sent 10, 15, 20 names” and others more.

The resolution gives a United Nations blessing to a plan negotiated previously in Vienna that calls for a ceasefire, talks between the Syrian government and opposition, and a roughly two-year timeline to create a unity government and hold elections. Ceasefire calls are important, and all Syrian rivals should lay down their arms, the foreign minister said.

Wang noted the “severe threat posed by worldwide terrorism”, a reference to the Islamic State group, which has exploited the chaos to seize large parts of Syria. “Without peace talks, the cease-fire can not be sustained”.

Asked about a definition of what constitutes a terrorist organization, Shoukry said that the Syria Support Group (SSG) has been seeking to make a list of terrorist organizations that should be excluded.