Syria finally ready to talk Assad's exit
Syria said it is ready to discuss the departure of President Bashar al-Assad as part of a negotiated settlement to the increasingly ferocious conflict but the US reacted with scepticism.
And on the ground, Syrian army shells crashed into southern Damascus yesterday and helicopters fired rockets and machineguns during an assault to shore up President Bashar al-Assad's grip on the capital, opposition activists said.
Anti-Assad activists said at least 47 people had been killed in Damascus in what they called the heaviest bombardment this month.
"As far as his (Assad) resignation goes -- making the resignation itself a condition for holding dialogue means that you will never be able to reach this dialogue," Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said after talks in Moscow.
But he added: "Any problems can be discussed during negotiations. We are even ready to discuss this issue."
According to political sources in Damascus, Jamil was sent to Moscow to discuss a possible plan for a presidential election in Syria in which all candidates would be allowed to stand, including Assad.
The exiled opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Council said it was studying the formation of a transitional government, but did not elaborate on whether it could include regime figures.
And the United States reacted with scepticism.
"We saw the reports of the press conference that the deputy prime minister gave. Frankly, we didn't see anything terribly new there," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The surprise comments Tuesday by a Syrian envoy visiting Moscow emerged after Russia bluntly told the West not to meddle in Syria in the wake of US President Barack Obama's warning to Damascus over its chemical weapons arsenal.
Obama had put Assad's regime on notice Monday that although he had not ordered military action "at this point," Washington would regard any recourse by Damascus to its deadly arsenal as crossing a "red line."
"There would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons," he told reporters.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking after meeting China's top diplomat on Tuesday, said Moscow and Beijing were committed to "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law ... and not to allow their violation".
Chinese state media yesterday accused Obama of planning to use Syria's chemical weapons as an excuse for intervening militarily.
"Once again, Western powers are digging deep for excuses to intervene militarily," it said.
Xinhua's commentary is not an official statement but it reflects fears among China's communist leaders that the West wants regime change in Syria under the guise of humanitarian action, the BBC's Damian Grammaticas reports from Beijing.
Syria admitted in July that it has chemical weapons and could use them in case of any "external aggression" but not against its own people.
In Syria, at least 198 people were killed nationwide on Tuesday, a watchdog said, reporting relentless shelling and fighting across swathes of the main battleground of Aleppo.
Activists say more than 23,000 people have been killed since March 2011, while the UN puts the death toll at 17,000 and says hundreds of thousands more have fled or been made homeless in a major humanitarian crisis.
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