Geneva-Asaad al-Zoubi, chief negotiator for main Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Council, expressed regret from the absence of decisiveness in Washington’s stances toward the Syrian file, which, according to al-Zoubi, if was more decisive, then the crisis’s track would’ve completely changed.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Zoubi, who is now present in Geneva, where talks are being held to solve the Syrian crisis, pointed out that the opposition’s assessment to its relation with the U.S. party is according to what it hears from them in their closed meetings.

He considered the stances and decisions of other parties supporting the Syrian opposition more advanced compared to the U.S. stance.

He also told Asharq Al-Awsat that Moscow is the “decision maker” regarding the Syrian file, and it has the solutions to solve this long lasting crisis.

Al-Zoubi added that Moscow is capable of marking these negotiations successful if it wanted to.

He saw that the Syrian regime dragged Russia to intervene in this war whereas the Iranian role surpasses Syria, which is the country it has chosen to implement its scheme in. He affirmed that Iran is massively present in Syria through militias either affiliated to it or support it in the country.

He stated that if the talks went as planned in Geneva, Iran will not play any role in Syria as Syrians will not accept to keep criminals, who came to kill them, on their lands.

The chief negotiator for the HNC welcomed all positive efforts put in order to solve the crisis, and he stressed that by addressing Iran, he is talking about its regime not the people, as the Iranian regime’s scheme has crossed Syria to reach Lebanon and Yemen and is “disastrous”.
Asaad al-Zoubi stressed that his delegation traveled to Geneva for a specific purpose, which is to start the political transition process without any role for the Syrian regime’s President Bashar Al-Assad.

He confirmed that this is the only solution to end the suffering of people in his country.

On the other hand, pessimism prevailed in the atmosphere of the indirect Syrian talks, which was launched on Wednesday and witnesses a meeting between UN Envoy on Syria Staffan De Mistura and the Syrian regime’s delegation.
Meanwhile, following his meeting with leaders and experts in CIA on Wednesday, the U.S. President Barack Obama said that his country will do all what it can in order to give success to the peace talks in Geneva.

He stressed that the political transition process will be achieved without the presence of the President of the Syrian regime Bashar al-Assad.

Obama also confirmed that future of Syria will be on the agenda at the US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Leaders’ Summit scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia next week.

“The United States is continuing to work toward a diplomatic solution to the civil war in Syria and the cessation of hostilities has largely held at least six weeks,” he added.

Obama said that although the cessation of hostilities has saved lives, in areas around Aleppo “the cessation is tenuous and under strain.”

In a common matter, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted, during a TV program where he answers questions by Russian civilians, sharp increase in demand for Russian weapons after operations of the air forces in Syria.

He mentioned that interest in their weapons has increased, especially after and during operation of the air forces in Syria. For some types of weapons they cannot fulfill the demands of the foreign market, for example, air defense systems.

Putin also acknowledged that many shortcomings have been exposed during the works of Russian military equipment in Syria, and the experts analyze the matter today.

The Russian president further called on different Syrian groups to must sit down for political talks and adopt a new constitution for their country.

He said Moscow is doing everything to ensure the situation in Syria does not deteriorate, adding a political process rather than military operations will help achieve reconciliation.

“We very much hope that a political process, not the use of armed forces by both sides with support from whosoever, including our support, will lead to reconciliation,” he said.

“It is necessary to accept, reach an agreement, sit down at the negotiating table, adopt a constitution, hold early elections on the basis of the constitution and in such a way come out of the crisis,” Putin added.