MOSCOW // World leaders from Moscow to Riyadh were considering their next moves on Saturday after a landmark UN security council resolution laid down a road map to end the conflict in Syria.
The resolution marks the first time in nearly five years of war that world powers have been in unanimous agreement on how to end the bloodshed. It gives a United Nations blessing to a plan negotiated previously in Vienna that calls for a ceasefire, talks between the Syrian government and opposition, and a two-year timeline to create a unity government and hold elections.
It was one of the strongest appeals for peace by the security council since Russia and China began vetoing a series of western-drafted resolutions on the conflict in October 2011.
“This council is sending a clear message to all concerned that the time is now to stop the killing in Syria and lay the groundwork for a government that the long-suffering people of that battered land can support,” the US secretary of state John Kerry said after the vote on Friday.
The resolution also calls for the UN to present the council with options for monitoring a ceasefire, which could begin as early as next month.
If the plan brings the regime of Bashar Al Assad to the table with the armed opposition, it will allow Russian and US-led forces to focus their firepower on ISIL.
“In January we hope and expect to be at the table and to be able to implement a full ceasefire,” Mr Kerry said.
“And that means all the barrel bombs will stop, all the bombing, all the shooting, all the attacks on either side.”
The security council met after the latest round of talks by the International Syria Support Group, which had gathered in New York to renew its push for peace.
Attention now turns to Moscow and Riyadh, as Russia pressures the Assad’s regime to agree to a ceasefire and Saudi Arabia wrangles the opposition to form a negotiating team.
The UN special envoy on the conflict, Staffan de Mistura, said he would send out invitations to talks in January.
“We intend and hope … that we will be able to do it in January. We will be aiming at that.”
The United States and Arab allies remain convinced that Mr Al Assad must leave office as part of the process, but Moscow insists that this is a decision for the Syrian people.
The resolution does not touch on this vital issue.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin said Moscow found it “easy” to work with both the Assad regime and the United States.
“We don’t suck up to anybody, nor do we change our position,” he says in a documentary to be broadcast tonight on Russian state TV.
Moscow has staunchly supported the beleaguered Assad regime while the West had insisted that the Syrian president must step down to facilitate a political solution to the civil war.
Meanwhile Jordan’s foreign minister has presented a draft list of “terrorist” groups that the ISSG nations will agree to exclude from the talks.
This would include, but may not be limited to, ISIL and Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al Nusra.
Mr Kerry said there were still sharp disagreements between the ISSG parties – some of which sponsor armed factions on the ground – as to which groups should be banned.
“There was a very rigorous discussion this morning, as you might imagine, about who might or might not qualify as a terrorist,” he said, and it was “impossible to reach consensus” in the time available.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Tehran would maintain its backing for the Assad regime and would also “support inter-Syrian dialogue” aimed at ending the conflict.
Tehran is the main backer of Mr Al Assad’s government, and has provided financial and military support to pro-government forces fighting in Syria.
Mr Amir Abdollahian also said Iran would work with Russia, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and France to prepare a list of extremist groups it wants to see banned from talks.
“Terrorist groups have no place in this national dialogue,” he said.
* Agence France-Presse and Reuters