Syria ready to support formation of unity government: FM

Syria says it is ready to engage in initiatives that could lead to the establishment of a unity government in the war-torn country.

In an interview with Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV aired on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said the Damascus government has proposed a political roadmap that could put an end to more than five years of war in the Arab country.

He said Damascus would support the idea of holding a referendum on a new constitution followed by parliamentary elections and the formation of a unity government.

Muallem said, however, that a main obstacle to the political settlement of the conflict in Syria was the support provided by governments like the United States, Britain and France and their allies in the Middle East to terrorists operating in the Arab country.

He accused the three Western countries of convening a meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday to support terrorists in Syria.

The top Syrian diplomat said the truce deal brokered by Moscow and Washington two weeks ago is still viable. He, however, blamed the US military for the collapse of the ceasefire by mounting a deliberate attack on Syrian armed forces positioned in a military base east of the country.

He said the attack two weeks ago the army positions on Tharda Mountain in Dayr al-Zawr was deliberate and in coordination with Daesh Takfiri terrorists who “rushed to take control of the area only one hour after the aggression.”

Washington has never been sincere in its calls for peace in Syria; otherwise it would have pushed its “agent states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey” into complying with the truce, Muallem said.

Over the past few days, Syria has managed to make gains against terrorists north of the country as it pushes ahead with an operation to fully liberate the city of Aleppo from militants.

On September 9, Russia and the United States agreed on a milestone deal on the Syrian crisis after some 13 hours of marathon talks in the Swiss city of Geneva.

The deal, which began on September 12 and was initially agreed to last seven days, called for increased humanitarian aid for those trapped inside Aleppo.

The Syrian army announced an end to the week-long ceasefire on September 19, after US-led coalition jets attacked a Syrian army base and an aid convoy was hit near the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo.

Washington called the US 17 airstrikes a result of miscalculations, while Damascus said they were intentional.