Morning Star.png Syria's Foreign Backers Agree Peace Deal to End Civil War James Tweedie, The Morning Star, London, 16 November 2015 Foreign backers of the warring sides in Syria have reached a tentative agreement that could see the end of the nearly five-year civil war in the country. Neither Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government nor the armed rebels seeking to overthrow him were at the 19-nation talks in Vienna. But Russia and the US were able to present a united plan to end the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 and turned the country into a beacon for jihadist terrorists. Under the plan, talks between the government and opposition forces would start by the end of the year, aiming at a ceasefire, the formation of a transitional government and new elections within 18 months. Jordan will be tasked with deciding which rebel groups are "legitimate" and which are terrorists, allowing the war against the Islamic State (Isis) group and al-Qaida affiliate the al-Nusra Front to continue. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: "This will be a Syrian-led process," adding that Mr Assad was not "the root of all evil." Mr Lavrov joined his US counterpart John Kerry in condemning Friday's terrorist attacks on Paris, saying they "show that it doesn't matter if you're for or against Assad - you're (Isis's) enemy." Independent MP Omar Ossi, chair of parliament's national reconciliation committee, called the plan a "victory for Syrian policy and diplomacy." He said the plan has many points that "run in harmony" with Mr Assad's position that combatting terrorism should be a priority. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told a journalism conference in the capital Damascus yesterday that Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity were non-negotiable, whether with friends or enemies. The tide of the conflict has turned in the government's favour since the start of Russian air strikes on September 30. Advances by the Syrian army, popular militias and Hezbollah guerillas around the partially occupied city of Aleppo have left terrorist forces and so-called moderate rebels facing envelopment and annihilation. Last week the Western-backed Free Syrian Army provided the Russian Air Force with intelligence on Isis positions in the province that aided in lifting the siege of Kweires airbase. From: <http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-775c-Syrias-foreign-backers-agree-peac e-deal-to-end-civil-war#.VklYBXYrK00> http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-775c-Syrias-foreign-backers-agree-peace -deal-to-end-civil-war#.VklYBXYrK00 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
