Syria’s Assad Dismisses Kerry’s Remarks on Negotiating

On Monday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed calls by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he should take parts in talks to bring an end to the Syrian conflict, insisting that only Syrians can decide his future and saying that Damascus was not concerned with comments made from abroad, AP reports.

“We are still hearing statements and have to wait for actions. Then we will decide. Any talk about the future of the Syrian president is for the Syrian people alone,” Assad said in an interview with Iranian TV.

Assad’s comments came after Kerry declared on Sunday that the U.S. would “have to negotiate in the end” with the Syrian government and said that the U.S. was trying to push Assad into a discussion about a transition strategy to bring an end to Syria’s four-year conflict, which has killed over 220,000 people.

“We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we can reignite a diplomatic outcome,” Kerry said. “Why? Because everybody agrees there is no military solution. There is only a political solution.”

His remarks sparked speculation that the U.S. has shifted its policy on Syria after President Obama has repeatedly insisted that Assad must step down.

A State Department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, later clarified that Kerry was not suggesting the U.S. would negotiate with Assad himself.

“By necessity, there has always been a need for representatives of the Assad regime to be a part of this process,” Harf said. “It has never been and would not be Assad who would negotiate – and the Secretary was not saying that,” she added.

President Assad also reiterated that pressure should be applied on foreign countries and regional states who give “logistical, financial and military support to terrorists and then we can say that the change has become real.”

Any international change in attitude regarding Syria’s situation would be positive, he said, adding that such a move would begin with “ceasing political support to terrorists, stopping financing them and stopping sending weapons.”

Syria has long accused the U.S. and its allies of militarizing Syria’s conflict and routinely describes political opposition and jihadist groups as “terrorists.”

“Also Monday, Syria’s Minister of National Reconciliation, Ali Haidar, said the Americans ‘are searching behind the scene’ for some way to reopen a direct line of communication with the Syrian leadership to negotiate a political compromise,” AP reports.

“The change has come as a result of a failure in the U.S. policies after a four-year-long crisis,” Haidar said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Moscow Invites U.N. Peace Envoy to Syria Talks in April

Russia has invited the U.N. envoy for Syria to a second round of meetings between the Syrian opposition and the Damascus government. This follows a meeting three months ago that failed to produce any concrete results and which was dismissed by key political opposition groups, Reuters reports.

A staunch ally of Assad, Russia has been trying to relaunch peace talks between the regime and the opposition in a bid to end the conflict. It hosted a meeting in January that many opposition figures refused to attend, saying they would appear only at a meeting that led to Assad’s ousting.

“Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Moscow had sent invitations to U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura along with ‘a broad range of opposition organizations and groups,’” Reuters reports.

The invitation for talks in early April follow a statement by U.S. Secretary John Kerry suggesting that the U.S. was seeking to reignite peace efforts and that a transition must be negotiated with President Bashar al-Assad’s administration.

Previous peace talks held in Geneva almost a year ago failed to produce results or ongoing momentum. Opposition leaders demanded Assad’s departure, while the regime insisted that the focus of the negotiation should be on countering “terrorism” – its term for armed resistance to its rule.

Amnesty Claims Syrian Government Bombed Civilians in Raqqa

Amnesty International says that there is strong evidence that the Syrian government has bombed civilians in the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate of the Islamic State, the BBC reports.

The Syrian government claims the attacks were targeting the Islamist State, but Amnesty says the Syrian regime earmarked areas that were densely populated with civilians.

The group says that the attacks on a mosque, a school and a market may amount to war crimes, citing an increase in attacks since November of last year: 2014 was the deadliest year in the Syrian conflict, resulting in the death of more than 70,000 people – most of whom were civilians.

According to the report, both the Islamic State and the Syrian government have committed crimes against civilians in Syria.

“Amnesty International said a referral of the situation to the International Criminal Court could send a strong message to warring parties that they need to be brought to justice,” the BBC writes.

Recommended Reads

• BBC: Syria Civil War: Is It Too Late for a Peace Deal
• The New York Times: The Kurds’ Heroic Stand Against ISIS
• The Wall Street Journal: The Risks in Negotiating with Syria’s Assad
• The Guardian: Chechen Refugee Took Children from Netherlands to Syria ‘to Join ISIS’
• The New York Times: Despite Good Intentions, Vacancies in Refugee Camp in Jordan for Syrians
• Washington Post: An Anniversary of Horrors in Syria
• Reuters: Syria Monitor Says Army Kills Six in Toxic Gas Attack, Military Denies it