Canada on Tuesday urged a political solution to the Syrian conflict as the “one way” to end Syrian suffering, supporting an earlier message from Russia and the US pledging to push for negotiations.
“From our perspective, there is only one way to end the suffering of the Syrian people and that is a political solution,” top Canadian diplomat John Baird told reporters.
He also voiced concern over “the influence and involvement of radical extremists” in the movement to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
And he urged the opposition — which Canada has not officially recognized — to “ensure that there is a place for all Syrians in a post-Assad Syria: Kurdish, Christian, Alawite, Shia, others.”
Earlier Tuesday the US and Russia agreed to push both warring sides in the Syria conflict to find a negotiated solution and to hold an international conference in search of peace.
Russia has long accused the West of worsening the Syria conflict by seeking to topple the Assad regime, and says Moscow is solely interested in seeing a peaceful solution to a conflict that has claimed more than 70,000 lives since March 2011.
The US and other Western states have in turn accused Russia of failing to use its influence with the regime to halt the bloodshed and keeping up military deliveries to Assad.
Canada urges political solution in Syria
