U.S. Secretary of State Suggests There is a Place for President Assad in Peace Talks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to suggest in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he is willing to talk with Syrian President Bashar Assad to achieve a solution to end the conflict, the Guardian reports.
Speaking as the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, the Secretary of State said it was “one of the worst tragedies any of us have seen.”
In an interview with CBS News, Mr. Kerry said the international community was increasing pressure on Syria’s regime to conduct new peace talks, saying: “We have to negotiate in the end. And what we’re pushing for is to get him to come and do that, and it may require that there be increased pressure on him of various kinds in order to do that. We’ve made it very clear to people that we are looking at increased steps that can help bring about that pressure.”
“We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we can reignite a diplomatic outcome,” Mr. Kerry said.
State Department officials later said that Mr. Kerry was not specifically referring to Assad, despite what Mr. Kerry appeared to suggest in his television appearance, adding that Washington would never negotiate with the Syrian president.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, “By necessity, there has always been a need for representatives of the Assad regime to be a part of this process. It has never been and would not be Assad who would negotiate – and the Secretary was not saying that today.”
“Policy remains [the] same and is clear: there’s no future for Assad in Syria,” she tweeted.
Mr. Kerry added that negotiations were important because everyone was in agreement that “there is no military solution. There is only a political solution.”
The U.S. has “always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process,” he added, referring to a 2012 plan to bring an end to the conflict that included the establishment of a transitional governing body.
“When asked if he would negotiate with Mr. Assad, Mr. Kerry responded that he would if the Syrian president would accept that the ultimate goal of the Geneva peace conference, which includes the movement toward democracy and the establishment of a new transitional government,” the New York Times writes.
“If he is ready to have a serious negotiation about the implementation of Geneva I, of course,” Mr. Kerry said. “What we’re pushing for is to get him to come and do that.”
Some analysts suggested Kerry’s comment signaled a shift in U.S. policy.
The rise of Islamic State has complicated negotiations about the future of President Bashar Assad, with many experts voicing concern that if President Assad were to leave, the main beneficiaries would be jihadist groups like Islamic State.
“On Friday CIA director John Brennan said the U.S. had ‘legitimate concerns’ about who might replace President Assad given the rise of ISIS,” the BBC writes.
“None of us, Russia, the United States, coalition and regional states, wants to see a collapse of the government and political institutions in Damascus,” Mr. Brennan said.
Syrian Army Backed by Hezbollah Launches Offensive on Jabhat al-Nusra in Southern Syria
Syrian army forces targeted a group of militants linked to Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra on Friday in southern Syria, Reuters reports, citing Syrian state media.
Syrian government forces backed by fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched a major offensive against insurgent groups in the southern region last month, including Jabhat al-Nusra and non-jihadist rebels.
The south is one of the few areas in which mainstream, non-jihadist rebels have retained a foothold against the regime of President Bashar Assad. However, they have lost territory to Islamist militant groups during the course of the conflict.
“The army … targeted a gathering of terrorists from a group affiliated with Nusra Front in al-Sweiseh in the Quneitra countryside, killing dozens of terrorists including three of their leaders,” state news agency SANA said.
The Syrian government routinely describes political opposition and jihadist groups as “terrorists.”
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Syrian military helicopters barrel-bombed an area in central Quneitra where insurgent Islamic groups and Jabhat al-Nusra had been battling Hezbollah and Syrian militias for several weeks.
“Before the southern offensive, Syrian troops had lost control of large areas of countryside near Jordan as well as parts along the frontier with Israel near the Golan Heights, according to regional military analysts and diplomats,” Reuters reports.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government carried our several airstrikes on the town of Douma, near the capital of Damascus, on Sunday, killing at least 26 people and wounding more than 100 people, AFP reports.
Douma, located in the opposition-held area of Eastern Ghouta, has been under siege for nearly two years and is regularly subjected to massive regime aerial bombardment.
As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year more than 215,000 people have died in the violence, the Observatory reported Sunday.
Kurdish Fighters Make Advances Against the Islamic State in Northeastern Syria
Kurdish fighters backed by Christian militiamen are steadily making advances against Islamic State in northeastern Syria, following intense clashes and U.S. coalition strikes, AP reports.
According to Kurdish official Nasser Haj Mansour and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the fighters seized the Christian village of Tal Maghas in Hassakeh province, which had formerly been under the control of Islamic State militants.
Intense clashes followed U.S.-led coalition strikes on Islamic State positions near Tal Tamr, a strategic town 6 miles west of Tal Maghas.
The first U.S.-led coalition strikes on the town came after Syria’s main Kurdish force, the People’s Protection Units or YPG, called last week for air support from the coalition in Hassakeh province, the site of intense battles between Islamic State and YPG fighters and members of the Christian Syriac Military Council for several weeks.
U.S.-led airstrikes were instrumental in tipping the balance against Islamic State in the northern Syrian town of Kobani. The YPG regained full control over the town and surrounding villages weeks ago.
The offensives come after ISIS launched an attack several weeks ago on the areas around the Kurdish-controlled Tal Tamr area of Hassakeh and kidnapped 220 Assyrian Christians from 11 villages, prompting almost 5,000 people to flee to Kurdish and government-controlled areas.
The offensive prompted clashes between Kurdish fighters and ISIS militants for control of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh provice, a strategic area because it is located near the Iraqi border.
“Taking it would allow ISIS to dominate a key road between the eastern part of Hassakeh and the town of the same name that are held by the Kurds, and also gain access to the Iraqi border and the jihadi bastion in Mosul beyond,” AFP writes.
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