A high-profile American official has told al-Hayat that Moscow has agreed that any new transition government in Syria will have full authority over the Syrian army and security forces.
"We are not stupid; we know that the political solution is not possible without changing the balance of power on the ground," the official reportedly said.
The American official was talking to Arab reporters after a meeting that included 11 of the countries from the 'Friends of Syria' group in London Thursday.
The meeting was convened as a response to the participation of Hezbollah and Iran in fighting in Syria, following the fall of Qusair, and the results of preparatory talks ahead of the proposed Geneva 2 conference between American and Russian officials.
The official said that Geneva talks "have achieved some progress, but we haven’t reached a final list of participants to be invited to the conference yet", adding that the opposition Syrian National Coalition has not yet agreed to take part.
"We don’t have a final date but the conference might be held in July, the final date depends on the agreement between Russia, America and the United Nations on all points," the official said.
Regarding the last Geneva meeting, the official said "there is a clear agreement on several points, first of them is the formation of a new government in Syria after the agreement between the regime and the opposition. This government should have full authority over the army and security forces."
But he clarified the position, saying: "We discussed this with the Russians and they accepted the move of all the authorities under the transitional government."
He also mentioned that the Geneva statement included "the formation of a transitional government with full authority."
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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