On Tuesday 30 October, the US special representative for the Syrian conflict, James Jeffrey, hailed "the great steps forward" that were made at the Istanbul summit on 27 October, which brought together the German chancellor and French, Russian and Turkish presidents (see EUROPE 12127).
"We are very happy with the results", he told a small group of journalists including from EUROPE. In Jeffrey's view, the summit conclusions urging the preservation of the ceasefire, progress towards a political solution and the establishment of a constitutional committee by the end of the year are "great steps forward". And while the US was not invited to the Istanbul summit, Jeffrey said his country was in constant contact with the French, Germans and Turks. "Obviously you cannot do anything diplomatically in the world without us", he said.
The US diplomat particularly hailed the ceasefire in Idlib, calling for a lasting and national halt to the fighting. "We can go from a temporary to lasting and widespread ceasefire. When the military situation is frozen, we can advance in the political process", he added.
Jeffrey also expressed doubts as to Bashar al-Assad staying in power, saying that Washington was not making his departure a condition. "Assad leaving is per se not (a condition). What we need is a government which does not use chemical weapons or barrel bombs, that stops killing its people – a government under which people who left the country are willing to come back and serve under this government", he said. He also stated that "nobody wants to deal with this guy (Assad). Nobody in the Middle East – not only in the Syrian population. They don't want to be ruled by this mass murderer".
Destroyers must rebuild
Jeffrey said that the conditions needed to discuss the reconstruction of the country were not being met. In his view, what is needed is "essentially an irreversible political process", a commitment by the Syrian regime to allow the constitutional committee to be formed and to work with it. "The next, very important, step is free and fair elections" organised by the UN, Jeffrey continued. "When we have this and a national ceasefire (...) we will be able to have another discussion about reconstruction", he added.
Jeffrey stated it was up to those who had destroyed the country – implying 'other than the regime, Russia and Iran' – to rebuild it. "We are not going to put it back together and we are going to do everything we can, and believe me that is a lot, to ensure nobody else does", he warned. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)