Vienna Meeting Sets Up Plan For Political Transition In Syria

“We extend our hands to all the people that love peace and freedom, most of all the French people”.

“We will support the political process that will result in him (Assad) leaving or we will continue to support” Syria’s foreign-backed opposition in order to topple the Syrian leader “by force”, said the top Saudi diplomat.

France is also part of a US-led coalition conducting an air war against IS in both Syria and Iraq.

Moments later, Lavrov said he could not agree with the logic that “Assad is the cause for everything”.

“Making that picture slightly more complex is not actually going to change the outcome and what we’ve got to do here is to focus on the outcome”.

Diplomats meeting in the Austrian capital also chose to place IS, along with the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front terrorist group, on a list of those subject to military strikes even when a ceasefire is in place.

France launched air strikes against Islamic State in Syria in September, saying it wanted to prevent the group from carrying out attacks against French interests and protect Syrian civilians.

It sets a January 1 deadline for the start of negotiations between President Bashar Assad’s government and opposition groups.

Lavrov said that the majority of delegates wanted an immediate ceasefire in Syria.

But Kerry agreed that decisions on Assad did not have to be made at the beginning of the process. “The question that is being asked throughout France today is, was France’s policy over the past five years the right one?” he said. I hope it will happen. Eleven million have been uprooted from their homes.

Europe and Syria’s neighbors, meanwhile, are struggling to cope with the influx of refugees trying to escape war.

“Syrians will not accept [President] Bashar al-Assad for one more day”.

According to Jennifer Cafarella, from the Institute for the Study of War think tank, pro-government forces are enjoying a “morale boost” and appear poised to re-take the besieged Shia villages of Kafraya and Fuaa and advance on Idlib province. “He doesn’t know how to tell the truth to his public”. French President Francois Hollande condemned the attacks as terrorism and pledged that France would stand firm against its foes.

“Assad has cut his own deal with Daesh”, Kerry said, using an Arabic term for the Islamic State. He said Syrians should instead determine the president’s fate through a democratic process: He told reporters Saturday: “We did not come here to impose our collective will on the Syrian people, exactly the opposite…”

The USA side has commitments on Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Zarif said, adding the meeting was needed so that Iran could make sure of the implementation of Khamenei’s guidelines about the United States’ commitments.

Jordan is due to contact anti-terror experts from countries involved in the effort, including Russians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also agreed that the Paris attacks removed any “justification for us not doing much more to defeat” the self-styled Islamic State (IS).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged ministers “to move beyond their differences on Syria” and work on a negotiated end to the war.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the countries sitting around the table have “almost all experienced the same pain, the same terror”, citing the recent Russian plane disaster in Egypt and suicide bombings in Beirut and Turkey.