Hopes for a quick political transition in war-ravaged Syria dim as embattled President Bashar Assad threw cold water on an ambitious timetable agreed at international talks in Vienna.
At the same time, the US holds firm to its calls for Assad’s departure, with President Barack Obama insisting that the war could not end unless the Syrian leader steps down.
“I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power,” Obama says on the sidelines of a trade summit in Manila.
Top diplomats from 17 countries met in Vienna Saturday to discuss a way out of Syria’s nearly five-year conflict, which has left more than a quarter of a million people dead.
They produced a two-year timetable: a transitional government would be formed and a new constitution written within six months, to be followed by internationally monitored elections within 18 months after that.
— AFP
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