Countries, European Union and UN Get Underway with Syria Peace Talks

According to the statement, the participants called on the United Nations to bring together representatives of the Syrian government and opposition to launch “a political process leading to credible, inclusive, non-sectarian governance, followed by a new constitution and elections”.

His Turkish counterpart Feridun Sinirlioglu said: “The point that most of the countries… agreed on is that a peace in Syria is not possible with Bashar al-Assad”.

“Those special operations forces will be in Syria and they’ll be offering some training, some advice, and some assistance to moderate opposition forces that are fighting ISIL in northern Syria right now”, Earnest said, using an acronym for the militants known as the Islamic State (IS) group.

Up to 50 special operations troops will be sent to assist Kurdish and Arab forces in northern Syria, American officials said.

“Our role fundamentally and the strategy is to enable local forces but does that put USA forces in harm’s way? It does, no question about it”, Carter said during a visit to Alaska. One soldier was killed in Iraq last week during a mission to rescue hostages from the extremist group.

Lavrov stressed that the decision to send United States ground servicemen to Syria makes the issue of Moscow-Washington coordination even more urgent.

Joshua Landis, director of Center for Middle East studies at University of Oklahoma, told Reuters news agency that the move was not a game-changer.

Moscow’s intervention in the Syrian conflict will have the unintended consequences of drawing Russian Federation into a quagmire and alienating Sunni Muslims across the region, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday. “That’s what we’re going after”, Kirby said. Washington has been cautious about publicly committing to helping the Syrian Kurds, who are mistrusted by USA ally Turkey.

Another key supporter of Assad, Russia, was present, along with many of Washington’s most influential Arab and European allies.

MANAMA, Bahrain-Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat says the timing of the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the withdrawal of foreign fighters remain the main sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria.

In the Austrian capital, officials described tense talks, particularly as bitter regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia took turns lambasting the Syria policies of the other.

Not represented at the October 30 meeting are the Syrian government or any Syrian rebel groups.

The latest round of Syrian civil war talks came to end in the city of Vienna today, and will resume in another two weeks.

Despite the long-standing arguments over Assad’s future, the UN’s de Mistura suggested he was encouraged by the breakthrough in getting Saudi Arabia and Iran to the same table for the first time, and suggested it would help advance progress toward ending the Syrian conflict.

This would allow an end to the war and ensure “Syrian people elect whomever they want in a safe and peaceful environment”, he added, without mentioning Iran’s support for Assad.

However, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in a television interview that Russian Federation and Iran had to agree on dates and means for both Assad to leave power and for foreign forces backing him to quit Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said earlier that the talks were not about whether Assad should go. Iran has actively fought on the ground alongside Assad’s forces and the Iranian proxy militia, Hezbollah.

The broad group of governments – an unprecedented collection of countries on the Syria issue – is looking for a plan that might convince Syria’s government and its Western-backed rebels to agree to a national cease-fire and start a long process of “political transition”.

With support from 14 donor countries over the last two years, the SRTF is delivering over 20 projects that reach 2 million Syrians in the sectors of health, food security, water, electricity, agriculture, and waste management in areas of moderate opposition control inside Syria.

Russia, which has waged a month of intense air strikes against Assad’s armed opponents, has also urged preparations for parliamentary and presidential elections in Syria.