No Return for Refugees Until Assad Steps Down: Turkish P.M.
Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday that refugees aren’t likely to head back to Syria while Bashar al-Assad still controls the country.
As long as Assad remains in power, “I don’t think any refugee will go back,” Davutoglu told CNN.
Western powers have softened their stance on Assad over the past weeks. While most agree he must step down from power, many are open to a transition period through which the beleaguered leader stays on.
“What is a solution? A solution is very clear. When, one day … millions of Syrian refugees decide to go back to Syria, assuming that there is a peace in Syria, then this is a solution. If Assad stays in power in Damascus, I don’t think any refugee will go back,” Davutoglu said.
Russia Says Partners are ‘Evading’ Work on Syria
Global powers are soon to hold “enlarged” talks on the crisis in Syria, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told AFP on Monday, faulting a range of parties for attempting to avoid negotiations.
“There will be another meeting in the nearest future in an enlarged format … that is about 20 countries and organizations,” he said in reference to the follow-up meeting to last month’s talk held in Vienna.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, two new notable additions to the table, will join Iran, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, among others, to pursue a political settlement to the almost five years of violence in Syria.
Lavrov said the insistence by several parties involved in the talks on Assad’s removal has made it difficult to achieve any tangible progress.
“A whole range of our partners are still trying to evade concrete work, the talks, and to limit the issue to abstract calls on the necessity of President Assad’s departure,” he said.
Russia: Hundreds More ‘Terrorist Targets’ Hit in Syria
Russia says its fighter jets hit 448 targets in Syria over the past three days, as Moscow’s air campaign extends well into its second month.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Monday that its warplanes had struck a series of targets belonging to the al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front in Hama, Homs, Latakia and Aleppo provinces, AFP reports.
The Russian air force also said it hit two ISIS munitions depots in the jihadist stronghold of Raqqa, as well as rockets stockpiled by the group in the mountains outside of Damascus.
Recommended Reads
- The National: The Syrian Crisis Can’t Be Solved Without Syrians
- The New York Times: Invitation List Looms as Test for Syria Talks
- Al-Monitor: Russian Involvement in Syria Brings About Another Siege for Aleppo
- World Politics Review: The End of the Army of Conquest? Syrian Rebel Alliance Shows Cracks
- Syria Comment: Media Maskirovka: Russia and the Free Syrian Army
Top image: A refugee from Syria cuts a friend’s hair in front of their tent on Nov. 5, 2015 at a camp near Calais, northern France. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)