BERLIN (AP) October 22, 2015 — Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S., Iran, Russia and Europe agree Syria should be united and that Syrians should choose their own future leadership, but he says Assad is the one obstacle to doing that.
Kerry meets his counterparts from Turkey and Saudi Arabia on Friday, and from Russia, one of Assad’s main backers.
Kerry said Thursday the various powers with an interest in resolving Syria’s conflict agree on “unified principles.” He added: “One thing stands in the way of being able to rapidly move to implement that and it’s a person called Assad, Bashar Assad.”