Secretary of State John Kerry warns Tuesday that Washington is considering a “Plan B” to deal with Syria if Damascus and Moscow are not serious about negotiating a political transition.
Briefing US lawmakers, Kerry says he had told Russia’s President Vladimir Putin the United States would not wait more than a few months to see whether Moscow’s ally Bashar Assad is serious about talks.
But he would not be drawn on details of any “Plan B” that he would advise President Barack Obama to adopt if efforts to mediate a political deal to end the Syrian civil war fail.
Diplomatic sources and US press reports suggest the new plan would involve more direct US and allied military involvement, but Washington remains very cautious about being drawn deeper into the conflict.
“When I met with President Putin, I said to him very directly that the test is not going to be proven in six months or a year and a half, when the election is supposedly scheduled,” Kerry tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
“We’re going to know in a month or two whether or not this transition process is really serious.”
— AFP
Secretary of State John Kerry testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill February 23, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/AFP)
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