U.N. Envoy to Syria Says Assad Is Crucial to Hopes to End War
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Appearing to address one of the core issues that have derailed peace talks in Syria, the United Nations special envoy for the country on Friday described President Bashar al-Assad as a crucial part of the solution to ending the war there, news agencies reported.
The envoy, Staffan de Mistura, met in Damascus, the Syrian capital, this week with Mr. Assad, who has resisted calls to step down during nearly four years of conflict. Mr. Assad has insisted that he remain in power in a postwar Syria, at least through the seven-year presidential term he claimed in disputed elections last year.
But Mr. de Mistura’s spokeswoman, Juliette Touma, said the envoy was referring not to the broader solution but to short-term efforts to de-escalate the violence, beginning with a proposed freeze in fighting in the divided northern city of Aleppo.
“What I know he meant is basically that the Syrian authorities should be part of the long-term solution,” she said in Beirut. Referring to Mr. Assad, she added, “For the de-escalation of violence, he needs to be part of the solution” as a representative of the Syrian authorities.
“Assad doesn’t stand alone,” she said. “He represents the Syrian institutions and these, too, must be preserved — the institutions that have been providing services and will continue to provide services.”
In a later email, Ms. Touma said that Mr. de Mistura had affirmed that the Geneva Communiqué, which calls for a transitional government in Syria, remains the reference point for a long-term political solution for the crisis. International recognition as the top representative of Syria’s government would in itself be a victory for Mr. Assad, however.
The United States and Mr. Assad’s other international opponents have formally recognized the main exile opposition coalition as Syria’s sole legitimate representative, but those global powers have not emphasized the coalition’s role lately.
The coalition lacks a strong presence on the ground in Syria, and does not control the armed factions there.
Opponents of Mr. Assad have grown increasingly angry as global attention on Syria has focused on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, the militant group that has capitalized on the chaos in the region to seize control of parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
The group has drawn focus by killing hostages in brutal fashion, as in the burning to death of a Jordanian pilot last week, and then releasing videos of the acts on the Internet. Although groups like Human Rights Watch have condemned the Islamic State, they note that far more civilians have been killed in the government airstrikes and bombardments that have faded into the background of news reports.
Mr. de Mistura’s comments came as Syrian opposition groups reported a particularly deadly week of bombing by government forces in the Damascus suburbs, leaving more than 350 people dead in Douma alone, including 120 women and children.
“We therefore call upon the United Nations to recognize the right of the Syrian people to live,” the opposition coalition president, Khaled Khoja, said in a statement on Friday, “and to take immediate action to salvage what has remained of Douma, just as they rushed to rescue the town of Ayn al-Arab from ISIS’s onslaught.”
Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobani, is the Kurdish enclave on the border with Turkey where American-led air raids have helped turn back the Islamic State.
In a rare interview this week with BBC, Mr. Assad denied that his government used barrel bombs, the crude, inaccurate and explosive-packed devices whose use on civilian areas has been well documented. Mr. Assad also declared that he was protecting his people.
Mr. de Mistura added that only the Islamic State benefited from the Syrian war, The Associated Press reported. He spoke to reporters in Vienna on Friday after meetings with Austria’s foreign minister.
THE NEW YORK TIMES