Apr 11, 2016 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently moved to defend Russia’s efforts in ending hostilities in the Middle East.
“…in the case of President Putin, he says that he is prepared to be part of the solution with respect to Syria. Now, everybody doubted whether Russia would play any constructive role whatsoever with respect to the cessation of hostilities…”
Ahead of a new round of negotiations in Geneva, Kerry reiterated his belief that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would ultimately need to step down in order for peace to be achieved.
“The war will not come to a complete ending, closure, if Assad against the wishes of the opposition, unless there’s some agreement that I’m not aware of that gets reached with the opposition somewhere in time, you can’t end the war, because the opposition will not fight — end fighting because of what he is deemed to have done to their people, to the people of his country. And the opposition is a determined opposition that has survived even the Russian bombing and even the toughest onslaught of Assad for five years. They’re not going to suddenly disappear.”
