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UK: No future for Assad in Syria

December 16, 2016 at 7:10 pm

Bashar Al-Assad has no future as president of Syria, Britain’s Defence Minister Michael Fallon said yesterday.

“We don’t see a future for President Assad in Syria, there is no victory in bombing hospitals… and ending up in a country that you only control 40 per cent of,” Fallon told a press conference with US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and other key members of the US-led coalition fighting Daesh.

Carter backed his British counterpart, saying: “Political transition is the only way that the suffering of the Syrian people can finally be brought to an end.”

He accused Russia of supporting “incredible brutality” by backing Al-Assad’s assault on opposition groups in Aleppo.

“The standard of brutality employed… stands in stark contrast to the way we conduct ourselves in Iraq and Syria,” he added before insisting that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in the war had not helped defeat Daesh.

Fallon went on to claim that Russia was only “prolonging” the war by focusing on Aleppo, leaving the door open for Daesh in other areas such as Palmyra.

Despite the uncertainties surrounding Trump’s strategy, Carter said he had “confidence in the future of the coalition campaign” as it was “logical and makes sense”.