Assad will 'never' have role in peace talks: US

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will never be part of peace negotiations to halt the brutal civil war, US officials vowed March 16, adding they were taking every step to bring an end to his rule.
      
Top US diplomat John Kerry appeared to suggest in a weekend interview that Washington would have to talk with Assad eventually if peace was to be forged, but State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki moved to clarify that assertion.
      
"As we have long said, there always has been a need for representatives of the Assad regime to be a part of that process," said Psaki.        

"It would not be, and would never be -- and it wasn't what Secretary Kerry was intending to imply -- that that would be Assad himself."       

Kerry's comments had caused alarm both abroad and among the US-backed opposition as the war entered its fifth year having claimed some 215,000 lives and with no end in sight after two rounds of failed Geneva peace talks.
     
Assad however said he was waiting to see whether there would be any concrete action by the United States.
     
"We are still listening to the comments and we have to wait for the actions and then we'll decide," the Syrian leader told Iranian television in remarks carried by state media.
      
Assad has long accused Washington of "supporting terrorism" because of its backing for the Syrian opposition.
      
"We have no choice but to defend our country," he added.
                      
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius rejected any role for Assad in peace talks, saying it would be a "scandalous gift" to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has captured a large swathe of Iraq and Syria in the past months.
      
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