UN Security Council Agrees on Road Map for Peace in Syria

This means that airstrikes by Russia, France and the U.S.-led coalition apparently would not be affected, nor would military action by the extremists.

Kerry said “sharp differences” remain on Assad and stressed that “Assad has lost the ability…to unite the country”.

Russian Federation reiterated its rejection of calls for Assad’s ouster.

The global roadmap stipulates only the “Syrian people will decide the future of Syria”.

Western officials say a recent meeting in Saudi Arabia of opposition figures made significant headway in coming up with an opposition bloc, though Russian Federation and Iran have questioned the legitimacy of the Saudi-hosted discussions.

“If we talk about support for various groups fighting in Syria from the outside, it would be ideal, as other countries have also repeatedly said here, to seal the border between Syria and Turkey”, Lavrov said at a press conference in NY. “What Iran is concerned about is what the people of Syria want”, he said.

Ban Ki-moon noted that this was the first resolution to focus on the political path to resolving the crisis, marking a very important step. “The people of Syria have suffered enough”.

Riad Hijab, elected on Thursday as coordinator by an opposition body set up in Saudi Arabia last week, said Security Council resolutions and the Geneva 1 road map drawn up in 2012 provided for a political transition in Syria without the president and a transitional governing council with full executive powers. Imposing and monitoring a cease-fire are impossible in areas under control of the Islamic State group.

The peace plan calls for talks between the Syrian government and opposition in early January, a transitional government within six months, and elections under United Nations supervision within 18 months.

Addressing the United Nations meeting, Mr Hammond said: “Sadly it is far too soon for any of us to predict an end to the Syria conflct”.

Instead, the world powers settled for a resolution calling on warring sides to start peace talks “in early January”.

The resolution also called on the parties to immediately allow rapid and safe access throughout Syria for immediate humanitarian aid to reach all people in need, and to release arbitrarily detained persons, particularly women and children. “They [Russia] have the responsibility to bring Assad to the table and to keep Assad at the table and negotiating in good faith”, he said.

There is also disagreement over which opposition groups should form part of the negotiations.

During a break in yesterday’s talks, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said he had presented a document compiling the groups each country attending considered to be a “terrorist” organization. He said some countries “sent 10, 15, 20 names” and others more.