U.S. Is Not Seeking ‘Regime Change’ in Syria
The U.S. is not calling for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, secretary of state John Kerry said on Tuesday after a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
“The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change,” Kerry said, a major U.S. concession to long-standing Russian demands that Assad’s future be determined by his own people, the Associated Press reports.
Kerry repeated the U.S.’s position that Assad, who has been accused of major human rights violations and chemical weapons attacks, would be unlikely to guide Syria out of nearly five years of civil war.
But after a day of talks in Moscow, Kerry said the focus in Syria now is “not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad,” but is instead on creating a political process in which “Syrians will be making decisions for the future of Syria.”
President Obama has been calling on Assad to step down since the summer of 2011. But it is now unclear when Assad will leave power.
Suspected Russian Raids Kill 39 Civilians: Monitor
Suspected Russian bombing raids Tuesday killed at least 39 civilians in two marketplaces in northern Syria, AFP reports.
Airstrikes killed 16 civilians at a fuel market in the village of Maarat al-Naasan, in the province of Idlib, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The strikes also killed four Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
An additional 23 civilians, including five women, were killed after air raids hit a market in an ISIS-controlled village in northern Aleppo.
The observatory said both death tolls were expected to rise, as many people were critically wounded.
Moscow began its aerial campaign in Syria on September 30 with the stated intention of targeting “terrorist groups,” but Western officials have accused the Kremlin of primarily hitting opposition groups in efforts to bolster the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
Russia Names Its Rebel Partners on the Ground
Russian defense officials said Tuesday that Moscow has been carrying out airstrikes to support four rebel groups in Syria, Reuters reports.
Over 5,000 Syrian rebels are working with Assad’s government forces and are supported by Russian air power in the battle against ISIS, according to a statement issued by the General Staff of the Russian army.
The statement said the Russian air force had conducted airstrikes in support of a group called “Ganim,” which it said is part of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), in addition to three other groups: Desert Lions, Kalamun and the Democratic Forces.
“This work aimed at uniting the efforts of the government forces and other groups, which are interested in liberating Syria from international terrorists will continue,” the statement said.
A top Western diplomat, however, said he was skeptical of Russia’s claims about its working relationship with the FSA.
“That’s not reality on the ground,” the anonymous diplomat said. “The FSA categorically denies it and it’s pure propaganda to try and divide the opposition.”
Recommended Reads
- The Daily Beast: Russia Is Using Space Power in Its Attack on Syria
- The New York Times: Putin Gambit Over Syria Proves to Be Dual-Edged Sword
- The Wall Street Journal: Saudi Arabia Forms Muslim Antiterror Coalition
- BBC: New Confidence in Damascus as Russian Strikes Turn the Tide
- Al-Monitor: Syrian Democratic Forces Set Sights on IS Stronghold
Top image: Russian president Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with U.S. secretary of state John Kerry during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015. (Sergei Karpukhin/Pool Photo via AP)