Syrian rebel officer rules out talks with Assad

Germany says Syrian opposition must distance itself from "terrorists"; rebel leader says conflict can only be settled by force.

By REUTERS
Free Syria Army fighters in Saraqeb 370 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS / Handout)
Free Syria Army fighters in Saraqeb 370 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS / Handout)
A Syrian rebel leader said on Saturday only force could end the country's two-year conflict and ruled out the possibility of any negotiation with Syrian President Bashar Assad's administration other than over its exit.
"There is no solution with this regime through negotiation. This (conflict) will not be settled other than by force," Brigadier Selim Idris, head of a military command, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul.
"Maybe in its final stages, when the regime feels it has lost everything, it might want to negotiate for its exit."
Earlier Saturday, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Syrian opposition must distance itself from extremist forces and he said Germany was skeptical about supplying weapons to the rebels.
Click for full JPost coverage
Click for full JPost coverage
"We expect from the opposition that they clearly distance themselves in Syria from terrorist and extremist forces," Westerwelle told reporters in Istanbul at a meeting of Syrian opposition leaders and their international backers.
"We are skeptical as the German government when it comes to delivering weapons because we are concerned that weapons could fall into the wrong, namely extremist, hands, but it is a matter that must now be discussed in the European Union."
A US official said on Friday Washington planned to provide about $100 million in new non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition that could include for the first time battlefield support equipment such as body armor and night-vision goggles.
Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to announce the new aid package, which would mark a recalibration of US policy toward Syrian rebel groups at Saturday's meeting. Fresh US humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees is also likely.
The new assistance would stop short of supplying weapons to rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad. It is also far less than what is sought by Syrian opposition leaders, US allies Britain and France and some US lawmakers.
The 11-nation "core group" of the Friends of Syria, including the United States, European and Arab nations, has been deadlocked over how to remove Assad, whose security forces killed and arrested thousands of protesters who took to the streets to demand democratic reforms in March 2011.
Syria's opposition has said it hopes the Istanbul meeting will give teeth to a tacit agreement that arming rebel groups is the best way to end Assad's rule.
More than 70,000 have been killed in the revolt and subsequent civil war. But a military stalemate has set in and much of Syria is left in ruins because of a divided and ineffective opposition, a lack of action by foreign allies and Assad's ability to rely on support from Russia and Iran.