US Secretary of State John Kerry suggests Russia and Iran may persuade Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to stop indiscriminately dropping barrel bombs on his own people.
In an interview with MSNBC News on Tuesday, Kerry suggests that the cooperation might go deeper than that and that Moscow and Tehran, Assad’s staunch allies, might also help rein him in.
He says that he had discussed the matter with Iranian officials and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, whom he is to meet again this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“I did talk with Lavrov about it and I talked with the Iranians about it,” he says, adding: “They are both in a position, in exchange perhaps for something that we might do, they might decide to keep Assad from dropping barrel bombs.”
The top US diplomat has not said what he might offer Moscow or Tehran in exchange for halting the bombing, but his comment comes as both are being drawn into efforts to fight Islamic State.
Assad’s barrel bombs have become emblematic of the cruelty of his campaign to suppress a revolt against his rule — crude explosive devices packed with shrapnel and dropped from helicopters.
— AFP
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
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