RT @TelegraphNews #Syria : Hillary Clinton and Sergei Lavrov inchcloser towards deal on peace plan.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9366392/Syria-Hillary-Clinton-and-Sergei-Lavrov-inch-closer-towards-deal-on-peace-plan.html
Syria: Hillary Clinton and Sergei Lavrov inch closer towards deal on peace plan
Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough over the civil war in Syria rose on Friday after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held crisis talks with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
(L-R): U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Photo: AP
Tom Parfitt in Moscow and Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
11:13PM BST 29 Jun 2012
Major foreign and regional powers will meet in Geneva on Saturday in an attempt to thrash out a plan to end the bloody 16-month-old conflict. UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan will put forward a proposal to create a transitional government in Syria.
Moscow and Washington have been at loggerheads over how to stop the fighting between a rebel coalition and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
But speaking after a one-on-one meeting with Mrs Clinton in St Petersburg, Mr Lavrov said that US and Russian positions were moving closer together.
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“We have a very good chance to find a common denominator and a way forward,” he said.
Mr Lavrov added that he “felt a change, in that there were no ultimatums [from the US] and there was no word about the paper under discussion being a sacred, final text.” He said Mrs Clinton was an “experienced diplomat who said she understood our position”.
He added: “We resolved to seek agreements that would bring us closer together on the understanding that the Syrian sides must be stimulated toward dialogue.”
Moscow is the Assad regime’s key ally and some western and Arab nations believe the Kremlin may be finally ready to acquiesce to a transition plan that could see President Assad sidelined, or at least forced into a power sharing arrangement with opposition figures.
The urgency of the task was underlined on Friday as Syrian government forces bombarded the Damascus suburb of Douma with unprecedented ferocity in an attempt to reclaim full control of the capital.
The Kremlin has publicly refused to countenance foreign intervention to remove Mr Assad, and insists the Syrian people must decide their own fate. Russia has also declined to end arms supplies to Damascus.
However, UN diplomatic sources suggested earlier this week that Moscow may accept some form of a plan mooted by Mr Annan, who suggests a national unity cabinet is formed from across Syria’s political spectrum, perhaps excluding Mr Assad.
Mr Lavrov insisted on Thursday that no compromise had been reached but admitted that a “transitional period” was needed. As he prepared to meet Mrs Clinton earlier today, his ministry issued a statement saying it was committed to “bringing a halt to the bloodshed and achieving a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Syria.”
It said the Geneva conference was a “positive step” which should be a “consolidation of foreign powers’ efforts” to support Mr Annan’s initiative and ensure “a transfer from armed conflict to dialogue and a political process.”
Fighting has intensified in recent days, encroaching on Damascus. Residents of Douma, long the city's most restive district, said they had been forced to cower in basements as the most relentless tank and artillery assault of the uprising entered its second day.
Scores of people are believed to have been killed in the suburb. Video footage showing dozens of corpses, shrouded in blankets and white sheets.
The Syrian president's hold on power is increasingly being challenged across the country. With more than 1,000 fatalities reported in the past 10 days, even Mr Assad has been forced to concede that Syria is now mired in a civil war. But it is the growing precariousness of his hold over the capital, where the regime's authority was once relatively untroubled, that will be worrying Mr Assad the most.
This week, suspected rebels planted two bombs on judges’ cars outside the main court complex in the heart of Damascus, demonstrating their growing reach.
