BEIRUT -- Syria's foreign minister laid out a hard line
Wednesday, insisting that Bashar Assad will remain Syria's president at
least until elections in 2014 and might run for another term, terms that
will make it difficult for Syria's opposition to agree to
U.N.-sponsored talks on ending Syria's civil war.
Walid
al-Moallem also said that any deal reached in such talks would have to
be put to a referendum, raising a new condition that could complicate
efforts by the U.S. and Russia to bring the two sides together in
Geneva, possibly next month.
In an interview
with the Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen, the Syrian foreign minister
also warned that Syria "will retaliate immediately" if Israel strikes
Syrian soil again. Earlier this month, Israeli warplanes struck near the
Syrian capital, Damascus, targeting purported Iranian missiles intended
for Assad's ally Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia.
Al-Moallem's
comments highlighted the wide gaps between the regime and the
opposition on the terms of the Geneva talks, the international
community's only plan at the moment for trying to end the civil war. The
opposition has demanded that Assad's departure from power top the
agenda of any peace talks.
The Syrian foreign minister said Assad will remain in his post at least until scheduled elections in 2014.
"From
now until the next elections, President Bashar Assad is president of
the Syrian Arab Republic," he said. "Will Assad run in 2014 or not? This
depends on the circumstances in 2014 and on the popular will. If the
people want him to run, he will run. If the people don't want that, I
don't think he will. Let us not jump the gun."
The
United States and its allies have repeatedly called on Assad to step
down. Al-Moallem said that "Americans have no business in deciding who
will run Syria," adding that this "would be a precedent in international
relations that we must not allow."
The foreign minister also said that "anything agreed on in Geneva will be held to a referendum in Syria."
"If it wins the support of the Syrian people, we will go ahead with it," he said.
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