BREAKING NEWS

Syrian envoy: Damascus needs support to negotiate but 'terrorism' must end

MONTREUX, Switzerland - Syria's envoy to the United Nations said on Wednesday that Damascus needed support to negotiate with the opposition to implement a 2012 Geneva communique that calls for a transitional government but said that "terrorism" must also end.

Bashar Jaafari, speaking to a news conference after an all-day international meeting, said that in talks with the opposition mediated by Lakhdar Brahimi in Geneva on Friday, "we will hopefully engage in a process of dialogue mainly aiming at implementing the provisions of Geneva 1".
"Syria needs encouragement to engage in the sincere and honest implementation of Geneva 1, as I said, but to do so, we need all to put an end to the terrorism, and the violence, because the political settlement cannot go hand-in-hand with the terrorism," he said.