KSA: ‘Plan B’ Ready if Assad Doesn’t Budge

Reuters

VIENNA: Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Tuesday that if Syrian President Bashar Assad did not abide by efforts to establish a truce across Syria, alternatives would need to be looked at.

“We believe we should have moved to a ‘Plan B’ a long time ago,” Al-Jubeir told reporters after a meeting in Vienna.

“The choice about moving to an alternative plan, the choice about intensifying the military support (to the opposition) is entirely with the Bashar regime. If they do not respond to the treaties of the international community…then we will have to see what else can be done.”

Major powers failed to agree a new date to resume Syrian peace talks at the meeting on Tuesday, and the opposition said it would not come back to Geneva negotiations unless conditions improved on the ground.

A pessimistic atmosphere pervaded the meeting in Vienna between countries that support Assad and his enemies, all of which have committed to reviving a cease-fire and peace process that have been unraveling since last month.

In a joint statement after the meeting attended by the US, European and Middle East powers that oppose Assad as well as Russia and Iran which support him, the powers called for a full cessation of hostilities and access for aid.

In stronger language than in the past, they warned the warring factions that if they repeatedly broke the truce they risked foregoing the protection of the Feb. 27 cessation of hostilities agreement sponsored by US and Russia.

They also directed the UN’s World Food Programme to airdrop food, medicine and water to besieged communities starting on June 1 if humanitarian access was denied by either side. But they did not agree on a date for peace talks to resume. The Geneva talks broke up last month after the opposition delegation quit.

(Source: ArabNews.com)