LONDON – The first serious differences in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) emerged Sunday, when US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Washington would have to negotiate a solution with the Syrian president, and London immediately responded with the opposite view.
“We have to negotiate in the end” with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Kerry told the American CBS channel. “We've always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process.”
Speaking as the Syrian war enters into its fifth year, Kerry said: “What we're pushing for is to get him (Assad) to come and do that, and it may require that there be increased pressure on him of various kinds in order to do that.”
Kerry added: “We've made it very clear to people that we are looking at increased steps that can help bring about that pressure.” He said Washington was trying to revive diplomatic talks that took place between Damascus and the Syrian opposition in 2012.
Shortly after Kerry’s comments a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said that Assad “has no place in Syria’s future.”
“As the (British) foreign secretary said last week, we will continue applying sanctions pressure to the regime until it reassesses its position, ends the violence and engages in meaningful negotiations with the moderate opposition,” AFP quoted the British official as saying.
The Syrian civil war that started in mid-March 2011 has so far claimed the lives of more than 210,000 people and created close to 9 million refugees.
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