Saudi king blames Assad for IS rise in Syria

At the same time, the PYD – the Syrian offshoot of the terrorist PKK organization – held an alternative meeting attended by a number of so-called opposition groups, including the Change and Salvation Front, the Nationalist Social Syria Party and the National Will Party. “It was a blatant violation of the resolution Russian Federation had just voted for – and an indication of how Vladimir Putin actually regards the diplomatic deals on Syria the Obama administration has been pushing”. More likely, he never had any intention of altering Russia’s policy of proclaiming war against the Islamic State while focusing its fire on the forces opposed to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Less than 48 hours later, Russian planes carried out at least six airstrikes on civilian targets in the northern Syrian provincial capital of Idlib, killing scores of people.

“We have a lot of things to discuss on the bilateral and worldwide agenda”, the Russian foreign minister went on to say. Initially, the U.S.demanded Assad’s removal but it has since softened that position. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who retired a year ago, made two phone calls to Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem to relay the warnings, US officials said.

Speaking to reporters after the talks, al-Attiyah accused Assad of supporting terrorist groups while Lavrov insisted that “it’s up to the Syrian people” to decide Assad’s future.

This comes just one day after the United Nations special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, revealed plans to hold a new round of Syria peace talks in Geneva next month. The situation is devolving into separate enclaves of Alawites, Sunnis and Kurds. In fact, the intel community suspects Turkey’s Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of dreaming that he can blow up the entire balance of power in the Middle East and using the resulting chaos to rebuild the Ottoman Empire. Nevertheless, no options should be taken off the table. He had originally tried to implement some reforms and even brought the Muslim Brotherhood back into politics from its outlawed status.

Rudskoy shared satellite images with members of the media at a briefing in Moscow and said that Russian Federation had spotted 4,530 oil trucks on the Turkish side of the border and another 7,245 on the Iraqi side. ‘The Joint Chiefs believed that Assad should not be replaced by fundamentalists. No doubt, if Kerry had his way, he would like to see a secularist committed to an inclusive, pluralistic Syria become the new president. The comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear program is now entering the phase of implementation.