Saudi FM: Assad has no place in Syria’s future

Russian Federation is internet hosting the Saudi overseas minister for Syria-focused talks, a part of a brand new Moscow effort to mediate the battle.

The comments were reportedly made during a meeting in Riyadh on 7 July that included Ali Mamlouk, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s intelligence chief.

Al Jubeir’s visit comes after reports in the Saudi press about the existence of backchannels between Riyadh and the Syrian regime to find an end to the conflict there.

The two ministers last met in Qatar on August 3 when Lavrov, Jubeir and US Secretary of State John Kerry held a three-way meeting, with Syria topping the agenda. “Thus, it is another example of double standards – for the purposes of eliminating the chemical weapon Assad was quite a legitimate counterpart, but for fighting terrorism – for some reason – no”, Lavrov said.

He urged the United States to cooperate with Bashar Al-Assad to fight ISIS, saying that this requires an global coalition of all those who believe that the jihadists are a common enemy.

He revealed that President Putin’s initiative was “two-trekked”, proposing both a coalition of people who fight Islamic State militants on the ground and the promotion of a “political process” in order to prevent the incitement of civil war in Syria.

But Moscow has criticised the United States for not working in sync with Syria, an ally of Russian Federation. Kremlin had also called for cooperation from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. But Jubeir specifically ruled out any coalition with Assad and tension between the ministers was often visible during the conference.

“Our position has not changed… there is no place for Assad in the future of Syria”, Jubeir said.

Meanwhile, the German foreign minister, Steinmeier said that he understood the concerns of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries regarding the Iranian nuclear deal.