U.S. pushes Syria peace process after Assad rejects timetable

While Russian President Vladimir Putin views Syria as its closest Middle East ally and suggests that only the Syrian people should decide if he steps down.

“Bottom line is, I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power”, he told reporters in Manila on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. “He can not regain legitimacy, and if in fact he is still in power, regardless of what outside powers do there is still going to be large portions of the population that are fighting”.

Russia, seeking to maintain its foothold in Syria, has strongly opposed Assad’s ouster.

Russian Federation in September began carrying out attacks on IS positions to support President Bashar Assad’s forces.

“If the French government is not serious about fighting terrorism, we wouldn’t waste our time cooperating with a country, or a government, let’s say, with an institution that is supporting terrorism”, Assad stressed, adding that his final message to French President Francois Hollande is that “be serious when you talk about fighting terrorists”.

In a draft resolution presented to the 15-member UN Security Council, it called on United Nations member states to “redouble and coordinate their efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts” committed by the Islamic State organisation and other extremist groups linked to Al-Qaeda. “We want to take that urgency and make it concrete”. “So, it wasn’t in Syria, it didn’t start in Syria, it started in Iraq, and it started before that in Afghanistan”, he added. Canada has been among those with warplanes bombing targets in both countries, but is now withdrawing from that mission.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined 20 world powers in Vienna on Saturday in agreeing on a broad timetable for talks between Syrian government representatives in the opposition and constitutional reforms that would lead to U.N.-monitored elections.