United Nations security council agrees on Syria draft resolution

UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved Friday a resolution calling for a cease-fire and political talks to help end the civil war in Syria.

Emphasizing the need for a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, the Council asked Mr. Ban to report back to it on options with a month, and called on Member States to provide “expertise and in-kind contributions” to support such a mechanism.

However, it seems the NY talks produced no such agreement on the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.

Diplomats said the main problem in the negotiations on the resolution involved Russian and Iranian concerns about how to refer to a bloc of opposition groups that would join UN-led peace talks with the Syrian government set to begin in January. The ministers said they would meet again next month.

The war in Syria has already killed more than a quarter of a million people, and the cities have been bombed so badly that hospitals are having to be built underground. “Now I think that there will be follow-up meetings”, said Nasser Judeh, adding that countries had submitted between 10 and 20 names each.

U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, right, shows a copy of a Security Council resolution concerning Syria, during a press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 at U.N. headquarters.

Diplomats said discussions were focused on which groups in Syria should be considered terrorist organizations. The plan says nothing about Assad’s future but says that “free and fair elections would be held pursuant to the new constitution within 18 months”.

Zarif also said “we still don’t know” if there will be any concrete progress in the talks that are aimed at bringing an end to Syria’s conflict.

The Assad’s administration has for long portrayed itself as a protector of the minority groups in Syria in the face of the wave of jihadi groups and ultra-radical militants, such as the Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

There are still gaps to be reconciled between the US and Russian positions, but the agreement has enabled the Security Council to give its imprimatur to a possible political solution for the first time since the civil war started almost five years ago.

The coordinator of the opposition team that will negotiate with the Syrian government, former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, said in Saudi Arabia on Friday that Assad should have no role during a transitional period.

The UN Secretary-General called on International Syria Support Group (ISSG) states to pressure the sides to immediately implement confidence-building measures, including an end to the indiscriminate use of weapons against civilians, unhampered access for humanitarian aid convoys and the release of all detainees.

Kerry said he hopes those talks can begin as early as next month.

“So far, Russian Federation has been cooperative and has been helpful, and while we may not agree with them on every aspect of what the political future of Syria is going to look like, they are at the table, they are here”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in an interview.

Any halt to hostilities would not apply to air strikes against so-called Islamic State (IS) – also known as Isis, Isil and Daesh – and other terrorist groups, it makes clear, amid fears they could otherwise benefit.