US Secretary of State John Kerry said that Bashar al-Assad cannot possibly regain legitimacy in order to run Syria, adding that Assad cannot unite the country that he has gassed, bombed, tortured, starved, and driven its people into exile.
“How can that man become the legitimate leader of the country in the future? I don’t believe that can happen and nobody I know believes that can happen,” Kerry said during an interview with Al Arabiya TV channel on Friday.
“So he needs to understand the Russians and the Iranians support a transition in Geneva. That’s what they’re negotiating. And if Assad does not agree to have a legitimate transition, Russia has indicated they will not continue to support him. And we will certainly see an increase in violence and a return to war,” Kerry added.
President of the Syrian Coalition Anas al-Abdah on Thursday said that the Syrian opposition would reject any political solution if it gave Assad a role to play in the transitional period or in Syria’s future.
During a visit on Thursday to a sanatorium in the Turkish town of Reyhanli where the wounded and ill who were evacuated from the towns of Zabadani and Madaya are receiving medical care, Abdah reaffirmed that the Syrian opposition will not waive the rights of the Syrian people to freedom and dignity. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
