During a meeting to achieve peace, the leaders of the world’s first and second largest nuclear stockpile had a war of words.
More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and one million injured in four and a half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war.
As forces loyal to President Assad, those opposed to his rule and jihadist militants from Islamic State battle, growing numbers of refugees are going to Europe. An estimated 11 million refugees have been forced from their homes, four million of them have relocated abroad.
Regional and global powers have been drawn into the conflict. Iran and Russia, along with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, are propping up the Alawite-led government. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are backing the Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. These powers dominated the discussion of a Syrian Peace Process during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). It is also the same nations that Secretary General of the U.N, Ban Ki-moon, stated will need to agree on any peace deal in order for the bloodshed to cease.
Obama commented, any solution must not include continued support for “a tyrant” like Syrian President Bashar Assad. Assad has allegedly killed tens of thousands of his own people in a war that began with a crackdown on peaceful protests. President Obama feels,”Lasting stability can only take hold when the people of Syria forge an agreement to live together peacefully,”
In his speech to the UNGA, President Obama stated that, “The US is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict. But we must recognise that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo.” Obama’s willingness to cooperate with such countries emphasizes his belief that compromise among powers is essential to ending the deadly Syrian conflict.
In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in separate speeches before the General Assembly, blamed the United States for the war in Syria and said any solution must include Assad and his regime.
Mr. Putin, who was not in the assembly hall for Mr. Obama’s speech, said it was an “enormous mistake to refuse to co-operate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face-to-face” Putin said, according to USA, “No one but the Syrian forces and Kurdish militia are seriously fighting against the Islamic State.”