KSA: No common position on Assad's fate at Vienna talks

(MENAFN- Arab News) VIENNA: Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said after attending a meeting in Vienna on Syria that he and his fellow participants had not reached consensus on the political fate of Bashar Assad news agencies reported.

He was speaking after a meeting between the US Russia Turkey and Saudi Arabia which had been called to explore a political solution to the Syrian civil war.
He said the four countries had agreed to keep consulting one another on Syria.
The Vienna meeting took place three weeks after Moscow thrust itself into the heart of the crisis by launching a bombing campaign in support of Assad.
The crunch talks at a Vienna hotel brought together Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry with Adel Al-Jubeir and Turkey's Feridun Sinirlioglu.
Some diplomats and analysts believe Russia might be able to exploit its influence with Assad and its newly demonstrated military muscle in Syria's skies to broker a deal to end the conflict.
Speaking in Berlin earlier Kerry said Assad himself was the central obstacle to resolving a conflict that has driven an estimated four million refugees into Turkey Lebanon Jordan and Iraq.
'One thing stands in the way of being able to rapidly move to implement that and it's a person called Assad Bashar Assad' Kerry told reporters before he held talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
At an impromptu press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh before the four-way talks began Lavrov reiterated the need to ramp up the fight against terrorism in Syria and the need for a political solution.
'Our common position is that we need to boost efforts for the political process in the Syrian settlement' Lavrov said.
'This foresees the start of full-scale talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the full spectrum of the Syrian opposition both domestic and external with the support of outside players.'
Russia has been frantically trying to get the US and its coalition partners to cooperate with its bombing campaign in Syria and Putin on Thursday stressed the need for 'joint work' to defeat 'terrorism' in Syria.
In a potential step forward Lavrov announced that Russia and Jordan had agreed to 'coordinate' their military actions in Syria and set up a 'mechanism' to facilitate that end.
'I hope this mechanism will be effective in fighting all terrorism in Syria and beyond' Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said.
Assad's fate remains a major stumbling block for ending the conflict in Syria.
'The aim of the US is to get rid of Assad probably that is so our aim is to defeat terrorism to battle terror and to help President Assad claim victory over terror' Putin said earlier in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.