Syrian regime ready to talk with armed opposition: FM
Battle for police academy claims over 50
MOSCOW, Feb 25, (Agencies): Syria is ready for talks with its armed opponents, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Monday, in the clearest offer yet of negotiations with rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
But Moualem said at the same time Syria would pursue its fight “against terrorism”, alluding to the conflict with rebels in which the United Nations says 70,000 people have been killed.
His offer of talks drew a dismissive response from US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was starting a ninenation tour of European and Arab capitals in London.
“It seems to me that it’s pretty hard to understand how, when you see the Scuds falling on the innocent people of Aleppo, it is possible to take their notion that they are ready to have a dialogue very seriously,” Kerry said.
He said US President Barack Obama was evaluating more steps to “fulfill our obligation to innocent people”, without giving details or saying whether Washington was reconsidering whether to arm the rebels, an option it has previously rejected.
“We are determined that the Syrian opposition is not going to be dangling in the wind,” Kerry said.
Obama has carefully avoided deeper US involvement in Syria, at the heart of a volatile Middle East, as he has withdrawn troops from Iraq and extracts them from Afghanistan.
Assad and his foes are locked in a bloody stalemate after nearly two years of combat, destruction and civilian suffering that threatens to destabilise neighbouring countries.
Dialogue
Syria’s Moualem said in Moscow that Damascus was ready for dialogue with everyone who wants it, even with those who have weapons in their hands “because we believe that reforms will not come through bloodshed but only through dialogue”.
Russia’s Itar-Tass, which reported his remarks, did not say if Moualem had attached any conditions for the dialogue.
“What’s happening in Syria is a war against terrorism,” the agency quoted him as saying. “We will strongly adhere to a peaceful course and continue to fight against terrorism.”
Moaz Alkhatib, head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, told reporters in Cairo he had not been in touch with Damascus following Moualem’s offer. “We have not been in contact yet, and we are waiting for communication with them,” he said.
Meanwhile, a prominent Syrian comedian has been killed in Damascus after apparently being caught in the crossfire between rebels and government troops.
The SANA state news agency says Yassin Bakoush was killed Sunday by a rebel mortar round that landed on his car in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus.
The anti-regime Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group says Bakoush was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade launched by government troops slammed into his car.
The part of Damascus where Bakoush was killed has been hit by fierce clashes between rebels and regime forces in recent months. The 75-year-old Bakoush was known for playing characters that were likeable but naive and dim-witted.
SANA said Bakoush is survived by11 children.
Elsewhere, at least 30 Syrian troops and 23 rebels were killed over the past 24 hours in fierce clashes for control of a police academy in the northern Aleppo province, a watchdog said on Monday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that rebels shot down a regime helicopter near a military base elsewhere in the north of the province as insurgents pressed on with attacks on the police academy in the west. Camarines Sur in the Philippines.
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