Turkey ‘ready to accept 6-month transition period for Syria’s Assad’

Russian air strikes have so far killed at least 370 people had been killed, including more than 120 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

ANKARA // Turkey is ready to accept a political transition in Syria in which president Bashar Al Assad stays in symbolic power for six months before leaving office, two senior government officials said on Tuesday.

Ankara is discussing the plan with its western allies, they said.

Nato member Turkey has long been one of Mr Al Assad’s fiercest critics, insisting that no lasting peace can be achieved in Syria without his removal from power.

“Work on a plan for Assad’s departure is under way ... [Assad] can stay for six months and we accept that because there will be a guarantee of his departure,” one of the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We have moved forward on the issue to a certain degree with the United States and our other allies. ”

The US will put the proposal to Russia, but it was not clear whether Moscow would entertain the idea, one of the officials said.

European nations have struggled to find a common position on the role for Mr Al Assad in the solution of the Syrian crisis. France wants hims to go as soon as possible, while Germany would prefer to have him involved in the transitional phase before quitting. Britain wants him to leave power “at some point” as part of any deal by world powers to end the four-year-old conflict, foreign secretary Philip Hammond said on Tuesday.

Mr Al Assad said in an interview with Iranian television aired on October 4 that it was not up to any foreign official to decide Syria’s future, including any transitional period mooted.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that Russian air strikes have so far killed at least 370 people had been killed, including more than 120 civilians. It was the first estimate for the total number of dead in the strikes which began three weeks ago.

Russia has so far carried out more than 500 air raids in support of Mr Al Assad against insurgents fighting him.

Among those killed were 45 rebels and civilians killed on Monday in a series of Russian strikes in the north of government stronghold Latakia province.

The Observatory also said tens of thousands were fleeing the new offensives, estimating that up to 100,000 had been forced from their homes in Hama, Aleppo and Latakia provinces.

Meanwhile, the UN warned that tens of thousands have fled new offensives against the regime in Syria.

“Around 35,000 people are reported to have been displaced from ... the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo city, following government offensives over the last few days,” said Vanessa Huguenin, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The mass exodus was focused south of Syria’s second city Aleppo, one of five areas where regime troops have launched renewed attacks since Russia began its air war on September 30.

* Reuters and Agence France-Presse