Kerry says ‘in the end’ US must negotiate with Assad to end Syria conflict

The United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end the civil war now entering its fifth year, US Secretary of State John Kerry told CBS News in an interview that aired Sunday.
Washington has long insisted that Assad must be replaced through a negotiated, political transition, but the rise of a common enemy, the hard-line militant group Islamic State (IS), appears to have slightly softened the West’s stance towards him.

In the interview, Kerry did not repeat the standard US line that Assad had lost all legitimacy and had to go. More than 215,000 Syrians have been killed and millions have been displaced by the conflict.

"We have to negotiate in the end. We've always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process," Kerry said, referring to a 2012 conference which called for a negotiated transition to end the war.

He stressed that Washington, and other countries he did not name, were working hard to "re-ignite" efforts to find a political solution.

The US helped lead international efforts to kick-start peace talks between Assad and a splintered Syrian opposition, bringing the two sides together in Geneva for the first time early last year.

But after two rounds of talks, the negotiations collapsed in bitter acrimony and no fresh negotiations have been scheduled, while the scale of the killing and devastation has mounted.

"Assad didn't want to negotiate," Kerry told CBS television, adding, “To get the Assad regime to negotiate, we’re going to have to make it clear to him that there is a determination by everybody to seek that political outcome and change his calculation about negotiating,” he said.

“That’s under way right now. And I am convinced that, with the efforts of our allies and others, there will be increased pressure on Assad.”

One of the ‘worst tragedies on the face of the planet’

Syria sank into civil war after a peaceful street uprising against four decades of Assad family rule began in March 2011. The revolt spiraled into an armed insurgency, which has deepened with the rise of the IS group and other hardliners.

"This is one of the worst tragedies any of us have seen on the face of the planet," Kerry said during the interview, recorded at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Assad seems more likely to survive the Syrian crisis than at any point since it began, not the least because Iran’s support for Assad is as solid as ever, with Russia showing no sign of abandoning him.

US-led forces started air strikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq in the summer. Washington has said the campaign in Syria is not coordinated with the Syrian military, which also views the group as its enemy.

Assad appears to be betting that the US-led campaign against the IS group will force Washington to engage with him.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
 [france24.com]
15/3/15
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