Syrian VP admits neither side can win

DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse

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Syria’s vice president said in comments published yesterday that a clear winner was unlikely to emerge from the 21-month conflict.

Faruq al-Sharaa, quoted in a pro-Damascus Lebanese newspaper, also said he preferred a negotiated solution to the civil war, a position at odds with President Bashar al-Assad.

“No opposition can end the battle militarily, just as the security forces and army cannot achieve a decisive conclusion,” Sharaa, the most prominent Sunni Muslim in al-Assad’s Alawite dominated regime, told Al-Akhbar newspaper. “Every day that passes, we are moving further away from a military or political solution. “Those who have the chance to meet the president will hear from his mouth that this promises to be a prolonged conflict, essentially a grand conspiracy hatched by several parties,” said al-Sharaa.

‘Dialogue still possible’

“[Al-Assad] does not hide his desire to press on militarily until the final victory [and he believes that] after this, political dialogue will actually still be possible.” Al-Sharaa said he believed the solution to the crisis “must be Syrian” but involving key regional countries and U.N. Security Council member states which can then lead to forming a “national unity government with broad powers.