Syria says will only talk peace with 'a real opposition'

#SyriaWar

Syrian FM not open to political solution that includes Islamist fighters or western-recognised rebels

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem speaks at the UN General Assembly on 29 September, 2014 in New York (AA)
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Tuesday 7 October 2014 4:30 BST
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Syria will not hold peace talks to end the three-and-a-half-year war while Islamist fighters are in the country, nor will it negotiate a political solution with rebels that are recognised by the west, the foreign minister told the United Nations.

Instead, Damascus will only accept a political solution with "a real opposition," that is recognised by the Syrian government of president Bashar al-Assad.

The statement killed off prospects for a resumption of peace talks in the near future despite efforts by UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura, who was appointed in July to re-start negotiations.

"We cannot start any political solution while terrorism is still rampant in Syria," Foreign Minister Walid Mualem told the UN General Assembly.

Mualem also dismissed the Syrian opposition recognized by the West to attend the peace talks, saying it lacked credibility and followed "the orders of its Western masters."

"We are open to a political solution in Syria, with a real opposition ... that does not depend on the outside," he said.

Mualem hit out at countries supporting groups like the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Nusra Front, in an implicit attack on Gulf countries.

Combating the militant threat "is certainly possible through military strikes," said Mualem.

"But most importantly, to do so through stopping states that arm, support, train, fund and smuggle those terrorist groups," he said.

The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution demanding that countries take action to choke off financial support and the flow of foreign fighters.

But Mualem said the resolution was "unimplemented."

He warned that without action to cut off the Islamists from their sponsors, the US-led military campaign "will create a whirlpool of which the international community will not exit in decades."

The foreign minister, who is also deputy prime minister, spoke at the UN podium as IS fighters closed in on the key Kurdish town of Ain al-Arab in northwest Syria, known as Kobane to the Kurds.

The US-led coalition carried out a fresh round of airstrikes, nearly a week after it began hitting IS positions in Syria, expanding an air campaign launched in August in Iraq.

The West also is stepping up aid to the moderate Syrian opposition, including military training to be provided by the United States to put more rebel forces on the ground to confront IS militants.

Syria's civil war began in March 2011 as a peaceful protest movement inspired by the Arab Spring and demanding Assad's ouster, but morphed into a brutal war after pro-Assad forces unleashed a massive crackdown against dissent.

The war has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 191,400 people, and displaced roughly half of the country's population, according to the UN. 

The majority of fatalities are reportedly of civilians, primarily killed by pro-Assad forces, although other groups are also implicated.

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