US working 'closely' with Russia on Syria's future

The US said Thursday that it is “consulting closely” with Russia on its future policy for war-torn Syria.

“As much as we can find common ground in ending the fighting, ending the conflict, putting in place a credible political process that leads to an inclusive democratic government in Syria, we support that,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. Any resolution, he said, cannot incorporate the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

“Given the complexity, fluidity of the situation in Syria, a resolution to the conflict couldn’t be more urgent,” Toner added.

Washington has long-maintained that a political solution to the conflict cannot include Assad, a lynchpin of Russian influence in the region.

Russia reportedly invited the leading Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, to Moscow next week in a bid to restart long-stalled peace talks.

The move closely follows Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Qatar earlier this week.

Lavrov said after the meeting that Russia opposes ongoing U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria, but the two top diplomats said Wednesday that they agreed to further cooperate in the fight against Daesh.

Toner said it is too early to tell what form of participation Russia could have in the US-led coalition.

“To this point Russia hasn’t frankly been very involved with the coalition or with anti-ISIL efforts,” he said. “We certainly would like to see Russia become more involved, but to this point, we’re still in discussion.”

But he ruled out Iran’s participation in the effort if Tehran intends to support Assad.

“If Iran could play a constructive role it would it would be one in which it doesn’t support the Assad regime,” Toner said. “The Assad regime, frankly, is the root of all evil here. It has created the conditions in which we find ourselves and frankly, the poor Syrian people find themselves today. So, any covert, or overt support to that regime is a non-starter,” he said.