“It is a matter of political will whether we have one or not, and the Russians could impose one,” Ambassador Karen Pierce told Rudaw’s Majeed Gly on Friday in New York.
“There is the political will on the part of anyone who isn't Russia or Syria,” she added.
Turkey said it would continue its efforts against President Bashar al-Assad’s Russia-assisted troops as Syrian forces moved further into strategic rebel held areas of Idlib on Monday. Recent escalation in the area has caused a grave humanitarian crisis, with nearly one million displaced from the region since December.
“I'm afraid for the moment the answer lies outside the Security Council. It belongs in Moscow,” Pierce claimed.
The ambassador claimed that relying on a solely military solution would be misguided, saying that the conditions that led to the start of the conflict in 2011 are still present and must be solved.
“Without a political solution, Syria can't move forward,” said Pierce.
The British ambassador expressed disappointment in global leaders failing to keep Kofi Annan’s 2012 Peace Plan afloat, saying that now, “we have to throw all our backing behind the UN special Envoy, Geir Pedersen, behind the Secretary General and ask them to redouble their efforts to get a political settlement.”
When prompted with Kurdish concerns of refugees fleeing Idlib's affect on the demographics of historically Kurdish majority areas, Pierce said "we do not want the area's ethnic composition to be changed by force or accidentally."
