NOVANEWS
The Syrian conflict is at a “turning point” with regime forces gaining ground, France said Tuesday, adding that it was time to review whether to arm the opposition.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin said President Bashar Assad could have averted the current bloodbath by implementing reforms.
Syrian army has pledged to focus its attention on the northern city of Aleppo after winning a strategic victory by retaking Qusair, a strategically important town on the border with Lebanon.
“There are lessons to be drawn from what happened in Qusair and what is happening in Aleppo,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot.
“We are at a turning point in the Syrian war. What should we do under these conditions to reinforce the opposition armed forces? We have had these discussions with our partners, with the Americans, the Saudis, the Turks, many others …
“We cannot leave the opposition in the current state,” he said.
Lalliot said a French official will Saturday meet Zio-NATO Puppet Salim Idriss, the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council.
The European Union, under pressure from Britain and France, last month failed to renew an arms embargo on Syria, leaving individual member states free from Aug. 1 to supply weapons to the opposition, if they so decided.
Lalliot said no decision to deliver arms had been taken but the issue would be discussed and reviewed in the wake of the fall of Qusair.
The U.S. and Russia are trying to organize a peace conference bringing together Syrian government and the Zio-NATO rats in a bid to end the fighting that has claimed 94,000 lives since March 2011.
Amid wrangling between opposition leaders and a fierce debate over who should attend, the date for the talks initially slated for May has now slipped back to July at the earliest.
Lalliot said he did not believe it was a good time for the planned meeting given the weakening of the opposition’s position in the face of the regime’s military gains.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that the Islamic Republic had received a verbal invitation to attend the Geneva 2 talks, without specifying who extended the invitation. “Ten days ago, we received a verbal invitation to take part in this conference,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told reporters in Moscow.
“The conference will be successful if all the influential countries take part.”
In an interview Tuesday, Putin said he had always believed that Assad should have implemented political reforms that could have averted the current crisis.
But Putin also stressed that he remained firmly opposed to outside intervention and implied that Russia’s position on the crisis remained unchanged.
The Russian leader told a question-and-answer session held in the studio of RT television – Moscow’s state-run international channel – that Assad should have listened more closely to opposition demands when the conflict broke out in March 2011.
“I have said that it seemed like the country was ripe for changes and its leadership should have sensed this and begun implementing these changes,” Putin said. “This is apparent. Otherwise, everything that is happening – it would not have happened.”
Putin also denied that Russia was acting as a public defender of Assad by blocking three rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions sanctioning him for violence that the U.N. says has now claimed at least 80,000 lives.
“We are not the lawyers of the current government or President Bashar Assad,” Putin said.
“We do not want to get involved in a conflict raging between different branches of Islam, between the Shiites and the Sunnis.”
Russia is concerned for the future of all ethnic and religious groups in Syria, Putin said, stressing that harmony must come from agreements among the factions.
“Not the other way around – kick everybody out and then plunge the whole country into chaos,” Putin added.
Russia also acknowledged last month that it had contracted to supply advanced S-300 air-defense missiles to Syria.
Putin said that discussions on arming the rebels were misguided because, he added, a large section of the rebels were openly allied with Al-Qaeda and presented an enormous danger themselves.
“Certain people watching from the side think that if this entire region is fashioned in a certain manner and branded a democracy, that then everything will be fine,” Putin said.
“This is not the case,” he stressed.
Syrian army has pledged to focus its attention on the northern city of Aleppo after winning a strategic victory by retaking Qusair, a strategically important town on the border with Lebanon.
“There are lessons to be drawn from what happened in Qusair and what is happening in Aleppo,” said French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot.
“We are at a turning point in the Syrian war. What should we do under these conditions to reinforce the opposition armed forces? We have had these discussions with our partners, with the Americans, the Saudis, the Turks, many others …
“We cannot leave the opposition in the current state,” he said.
Lalliot said a French official will Saturday meet Zio-NATO Puppet Salim Idriss, the chief of staff of the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council.
The European Union, under pressure from Britain and France, last month failed to renew an arms embargo on Syria, leaving individual member states free from Aug. 1 to supply weapons to the opposition, if they so decided.
Lalliot said no decision to deliver arms had been taken but the issue would be discussed and reviewed in the wake of the fall of Qusair.
The U.S. and Russia are trying to organize a peace conference bringing together Syrian government and the Zio-NATO rats in a bid to end the fighting that has claimed 94,000 lives since March 2011.
Amid wrangling between opposition leaders and a fierce debate over who should attend, the date for the talks initially slated for May has now slipped back to July at the earliest.
Lalliot said he did not believe it was a good time for the planned meeting given the weakening of the opposition’s position in the face of the regime’s military gains.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that the Islamic Republic had received a verbal invitation to attend the Geneva 2 talks, without specifying who extended the invitation. “Ten days ago, we received a verbal invitation to take part in this conference,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian told reporters in Moscow.
“The conference will be successful if all the influential countries take part.”
In an interview Tuesday, Putin said he had always believed that Assad should have implemented political reforms that could have averted the current crisis.
But Putin also stressed that he remained firmly opposed to outside intervention and implied that Russia’s position on the crisis remained unchanged.
The Russian leader told a question-and-answer session held in the studio of RT television – Moscow’s state-run international channel – that Assad should have listened more closely to opposition demands when the conflict broke out in March 2011.
“I have said that it seemed like the country was ripe for changes and its leadership should have sensed this and begun implementing these changes,” Putin said. “This is apparent. Otherwise, everything that is happening – it would not have happened.”
Putin also denied that Russia was acting as a public defender of Assad by blocking three rounds of U.N. Security Council resolutions sanctioning him for violence that the U.N. says has now claimed at least 80,000 lives.
“We are not the lawyers of the current government or President Bashar Assad,” Putin said.
“We do not want to get involved in a conflict raging between different branches of Islam, between the Shiites and the Sunnis.”
Russia is concerned for the future of all ethnic and religious groups in Syria, Putin said, stressing that harmony must come from agreements among the factions.
“Not the other way around – kick everybody out and then plunge the whole country into chaos,” Putin added.
Russia also acknowledged last month that it had contracted to supply advanced S-300 air-defense missiles to Syria.
Putin said that discussions on arming the rebels were misguided because, he added, a large section of the rebels were openly allied with Al-Qaeda and presented an enormous danger themselves.
“Certain people watching from the side think that if this entire region is fashioned in a certain manner and branded a democracy, that then everything will be fine,” Putin said.
“This is not the case,” he stressed.
