US, Russia agree that political solution in Syria still possible

Senior diplomats from the United States, Russia and the United Nations said it was still possible to find a political solution to the Syria conflict in Geneva on Sunday, as violence raged between rebels and government troops in Syria, DPA reported.
The meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, his US counterpart William Burns and international envoy Lakdhar Brahimi was part of a new diplomatic effort begun by the three sides on Thursday.

"All three parties re-affirmed their common assessment that the situation in Syria was bad and getting worse," Brahimi said in a statement.

"They stressed that a political process to end the crisis in Syria was necessary and still possible," he said, pointing to the political transition plan that the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Arab countries drew up in Geneva in June.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said before Sunday's talks that the session would be a "brainstorming without preconditions," according to the Interfax news agency.

Russia has repeatedly said the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should not be a precondition for political talks and has blocked the international community from taking harsher action against Assad's regime.

In Geneva, the three parties said they had also looked at ways to "mobilize greater international action," and had agreed to meet again soon.

Sunday's meeting follows talks on Syria held Thursday between Lavrov, Brahimi and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Dublin.

In Syria, rebel groups including the hardline Islamist al-Nousra Front seized an army command base in the northern province of Aleppo.

Clashes at the base since Saturday night killed two rebels and one army soldier, forcing some 140 soldiers to flee, according to an opposition rights group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels captured five soldiers during the fighting, after which they took over the base in Aleppo's Sheikh Suleiman area.

Rebels and troops clashed in the Damascus suburbs of Daraya and Maadamiyet al-Sham, as government forces shelled the two areas.

Troops also shelled restive areas in Idlib and Homs province, the Observatory added.


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