Assad regime doomed, Syrian rebels tell Russia

The head of Syrias main exiled opposition group sought Wednesday to convince Russia to drop all support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, saying there was no hope of a political transition.Syrian National Council chief Abdel Basset Sayda told Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in rare talks at the Russian foreign ministry that Moscow needed to understand his country was in the throes of a revolution.The events in Syria are not disagreements between the opposition and the government but a revolution, Sayda told Lavrov, comparing the events in his country to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.However in his opening remarks, Lavrov offered no hope of breakthrough in disagreements between Moscow and the Syrian opposition, which has been scathing of the Russian position in the Syrian crisis.Sometimes your organisation has questions about what we are doing and we want to clear up these questions today so that there are no doubts, Lavrov said.He added that Russia wanted to understand in the talks if there are prospects of the opposition groups uniting and joining a platform for dialogue with the Syrian government.Russia last month signed up with other world powers to an accord based on suggestions by peace envoy Kofi Annan for a political transition in Syria but its pressure ensured there was no explicit mention that Assad must step down.Lavrov said Moscows policy was based on the Annan plan, which many commentators believe to be in tatters with no sign of an end to the violence which the exiled opposition says has left over 17,000 people dead.Russia supports the necessity of moving to a dialogue involving the government and all opposition groups where Syrians can determine the fate of their country, starting by agreeing the parameters and terms of a transitional process, Lavrov said.Moscow has repeatedly refused to call on Assad to quit power, saying that Syrias political future cannot be imposed from the outside and must be decided via a dialogue involving all parties.Russia on Tuesday proposed a UN Security Council resolution on crisis that would extend the UN mission in the country but did not contain any threat of sanctions against Syria or action against Assad, diplomats said.However the Syrian National Council has repeatedly said it had no patience with the idea of a political transition that would include members of the current regime.No dialogue with the ruling regime is possible. We can only discuss how to move on to a different political system, SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said in Moscow one day ahead of the talks.Russia is one of the most important states for Syria. It plays an important role that we hope can help us turn the page on the old regime.Moscows close ties with Damascus date back to its cooperation with Assads late father Hafez al-Assad under the Soviet Union. Analysts say Russia is above all unwilling to lose its last strategic ally in the Middle East.But it also has strategic interests in Syria, including a naval base in the port of Tartus. A flotilla of Russian naval vessels led by an anti-submarine destroyer is currently on its way to Tartus for a highly symbolic port call.