Gulf states, Russia differ on solution to Syrian crisis

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the bloodshed in Syria as "outrageous" on Wednesday and urged opponents of President Bashar Assad inside and outside the country to form a united front to end the crisis. Lavrov met with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and other foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh but failed to reach common ground on how to end the bloodshed that has claimed more than 38,000 lives in Syria. Lavrov said that the atrocities committed in Syria were from all sides and must stop. He said there was no need for a new UN Security Council resolution on Syria and what was announced in the Geneva Declaration was sufficient. The Geneva Declaration, that was agreed upon on June 30 when Kofi Annan was still international mediator, called for a transitional administration but did not specify what role, if any, Russia’s ally Syrian President Bashar Assad would have. The Syrian issue was not listed in the agenda of the meeting when the meeting was planned two months ago. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Khalifa requested a UN decision to stop atrocities in Syria and has stated that the division in the Security Council has exacerbated the Syrian conflict. Sheikh Khaled reiterated the stance of the GCC that Assad did not have any legitimacy to rule Syria. Both the Russian and the Bahrain foreign ministers have condemned the escalation in Gaza where an Israeli airstrike killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jaabari. Lavrov arrived in Riyadh for talks with his Arab counterparts in the Gulf on Wednesday to try to narrow down differences on the conflict in Syria. He said differences between Russia and the Gulf states on Syria shouldn’t influence trade and investment relations between the two. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani said no breakthrough was made in the talks. "We have spoken at length on the situation in Syria and how to find solutions," Sheikh Hamad told journalists after the talks. "We have a point of view and our friends in Russia have a point of view and they did not converge." The GCC was the first to recognize the new National Coalition formed last Sunday by factions opposed to President Assad. From : Arabnews