Russian Jets to Escort Assad on Iran Trip

The Russian president Vladimir Putin said Moscow found it “easy” to work with both the Assad regime and the United States. Pessimistically, as members of the opposition point out, Assad may find a way to hold onto power and thus don’t see it possible to sign onto a political process with the Syrian president still being part of it. “If he can not serve his country and his people, then a capable successor should run the country”.

Russian Federation formed a rival anti-ISIS alliance with Assad, Iran, and Iraq without notifying the Obama administration. “The meeting between Putin and the Supreme Leader Khamenei was very successful and now Iran and Russian Federation share the same view on Assad”, the official said.

Within six months, the process should establish “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance”, and set a schedule for drafting a new constitution.

“This council is sending a clear message to all concerned that the time is now to stop the killing in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government that the long-suffering people of that battered land can support”, the USA secretary of state John Kerry said after the vote on Friday.

For example, the draft resolution recognizes the UN’s role in monitoring and implementing the ceasefire between Damascus and the opposition, but avoids touching on how the United Nations should operate in areas where the opposition is blended with groups such as Ahrar al-Sham, which Moscow recognizes as a terrorist group and has targeted.

However, Russia’s intervention and Iran’s assistance pumped oxygen into the Assad regime despite the Obama administration’s insistence that the Syrian dictator step down. The Geneva Communique called for political transition in Syria and Tehran never formally embraced it because of the implication that it could mean the end of Assad. He was referring to the two communiques agreed in Vienna on October 30 and November 14. Western diplomats say that Iran will have to move further towards Russia’s position and fully abandon Assad if there is to be a viable diplomatic solution that ends the war in Syria. The commander of the Guards’ Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, was in Moscow last week for talks with Putin on a handful of Mideast conflicts, Iran’s Fars news agency reported. Several Iranian commanders and scores of Hezbollah fighters have reportedly been killed fighting alongside Assad’s forces. Even if the Iranians are beginning to acknowledge the possibility of Assad’s departure, that goal that remains elusive.