Assad is losing power
Three key foreign policy actors in the Syrian crisis have sought to regain control of the rebellion by calling for dialogue between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups, adding that it would be "unacceptable" to use terrorists to take control of the country, the Guardian reports.
On the sidelines of the Doha Forum, Qatar, Turkey, Russia and Iran urged the Syrian opposition to respond to the call for an end to the fighting and the preservation of Syria as an integrated country.
Amid reports that Russian diplomats are fleeing Damascus because of the opposition's rapid advance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that "Russia is trying to do everything possible to prevent terrorists from gaining the upper hand, despite what they say they are not terrorists." He also said efforts were underway for al-Assad to normalize relations with Turkey, including Ankara's request to intervene to prevent Kurdish forces from using northern Syria for attacks.
Earlier this year al-Assad refused to talk to Turkey as long as Turkish forces remained in Syria. This refusal led President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to implicitly endorse the Hayat al-Sham militant group, which has carried out highly successful attacks on Aleppo and the city of Homs.
As the Guardian writes, while the power of al-Assad, who was in power for 24 years, is waning, the Syrian leader will have no other option but to make concessions to Turkey regarding the Kurdish issue.
But there are no guarantees that Turkey can control the Hayat al-Sham group or order it to end an offensive that has proved far more effective than they themselves expected.
Lavrov repeatedly emphasized that Hayat al-Sham is on the list of terrorist groups of the United States and the United Nations. He also questioned whether the group had roots in al-Qaeda.
- If the opposition groups were responsible and if they cared about their country, they would not have allowed this conflict to continue, he said.
Admitting that he could not predict the outcome of the fighting, Lavrov said that "Russia is helping the Syrian soldiers with their own forces to counter terrorist attacks."
