Russia works with US, rebels in Syria

On Monday, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari, suggested to Tasnim news that Assad’s position was not in effect a negotiable item on the agenda because there was no one to replace him with.

Since the end of October, the United States and Russian Federation have been engaged in a diplomatic effort in Vienna to try to lay out the outlines of a political transition in Syria.

In another context, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry said during a press conference on Thursday ” In addition to the military operations, work are under way to launch the dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition through a Syrian support group in Vienna”.

“We are not saying that Assad should leave or stay”.

Lavrov said the “entire spectrum” of Syrian society should be represented at the negotiating table and reiterated Russia’s traditional stance that the fate of President Bashar Assad should be decided by “the Syrian people”.

“We sent there not just fighter planes, strike aircraft and helicopters but also anti-aircraft rocket systems”, Bondarev told Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid daily. The organization noted that it was not yet clear whether the attacks had been conducted by the Russian air force (operating in Syria since September 30) or the US-led global coalition.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that decisions must be made about who to consider terrorists and who should be deemed legitimate opposition groups in Syria before the next round of worldwide talks on the country’s civil war. Lavrov said two lists must be drawn up before discussions can continue.

Moscow says it had set up “working coordination groups” aimed at bolstering the fight against the IS, but said the identities of those involved were being kept secret.

Russia’s airforce on Thursday said it carried out strikes near the Islamic State-held ancient city of Palmyra for the second time this week, claiming its targets were far from Syria’s historic sites.

State TV said the road was now being demined and would reopen to traffic Thursday. “It is the beginning of a political process”, said Irina Zvyagelskaya, a Middle East analyst at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Britain-based said warplanes belonging to either Russian Federation or the Syrian regime bombed IS’s de facto capital Raqa on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people including 13 jihadists.

Russian Federation earlier this year hosted two meetings with government representatives and members of the political opposition, which did not include the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed political opposition group.