Mark C. Toner, the Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State said on Tuesday during the daily brief that the US wants Assad to recognize his role in the carnage in Syria.
In answering a question whether he had a chance to review the speech made by “Syrian President” Bashar Assad before “the People’s Council,” Toner said: “Okay, first of all, it was vintage Assad. There were no surprises in what he said, unfortunately. Would I – would all of us have liked to see him get up and say that – recognize his role in the carnage in Syria and to pledge to step aside and for that a political transition can take place?”
In concern with Russia and Iran’ roles in Syria, Toner said: “We’re going to look – going forward though is the fact that we still believe that Russia, and Iran can at least appeal to those in the regime who still have influence on him to refrain from letting this political process, this cessation of hostilities, fall completely apart. But it is – again, there’s nothing surprising in what he said today, but it was discouraging.”
Toner also rejected Assad’s accusations of Erdogan of sending lately thousands of fighters into Aleppo saying: “No! These are again, these are not new accusations or allegations thrown by the Syrian regime at Turkey or at Turkey’s – Turkish leadership, I guess. Again, Aleppo is a very dynamic, very difficult place in terms of trying to delineate the good from the bad.”
These comments came after Bashar Assad’s speech before his regime’s “People’s Assembly” on Tuesday during which he said that Geneva Communique’s articles contradict each other.
