United Nations endorses peace process for Syria; no mention of Assad

The UN Security Council has endorsed an global plan for a political peace process in Syria, calling on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s office to facilitate peace talks starting in January.

The UN resolution endorsing a political transition to end Syria’s war, which was drafted by the United States and Russian Federation, passed in NY on December 18.

The US and Russian initiative, unanimously approved by the UN Security Council on Friday, foresees talks between the rebels and the regime and a rapid ceasefire, perhaps even next month.

Kerry reiterated that there is no military solution to the crisis in Syria and the political solution is the only choice, affirming that only the Syrian people have the right to determine the future of their country.

“What was agreed was Iran and Russian Federation will pursue one policy which will benefit Tehran, Moscow and Damascus”, the senior Iranian official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

In September, Russia began launching air strikes against armed groups in Syria, saying the IS militants and other “terrorists” were targets.

“Within a month or so, two months, decisions are going to have to start to be made about the devolution of some power” and the creation of a transitional body agreed to by Syria’s government and opposition with full executive power, Kerry said.

The resolution should be adopted within a month’s time and it should provide the council with options regarding monitoring a ceasefire, talks between government and opposition and potential elections.

But Syria’s ambassador to the U.N., Bashar Ja’afari, criticized the “glaring contradictions” between the talk about letting the Syrian people decide their fate and what he called interference in his country’s sovereignty by talking about replacing Assad.

The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth year, has left more than 250,000 victims dead and made the country the world’s single-largest source of refugees and displaced people, according to United Nations figures.

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. Each country sent its own view.

Amir-Abdollahian said the Iranian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, managed to block the adoption of a politically-motivated list of Syrian opposition in the meeting.

Friday’s NY talks were the first by the ISSG since Saudi Arabia gathered a coalition of Syria rebel groups to form an opposition negotiating team.

In an interview with the NPO2 channel, Assad said the Western anti-terrorist effort in Iraq and Syria was based on geopolitical interests rather than values and did not reflect a realistic approach toward defeating terrorism.