Syria's government

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to host the Jordanian King and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi in Moscow on Aug. 25 to discuss the Syrian crisis and take part in a showcase of Russia's military industry.

Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations on Aug. 20 to impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government after air strikes on a rebel town near the capital killed more than 100 people.

Syria's main opposition group on Aug. 13 insisted President Bashar al-Assad must go and rejected calls to join forces against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists as it met with Russia's foreign minister.  

Iran and the European Union have agreed to start talks on issues including confronting terrorism, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a news conference with the EU's chief diplomat in Tehran on July 28.

Syria's official news agency SANA on May 10 denounced Turkey's prime minister for making a cross-border trip to a historic tomb inside Syrian territory, calling the visit a "clear aggression".

France insisted March 16 that a solution to the crisis in Syria could only come through a "political negotiation between different Syrian parties" but reiterated that President Bashar al-Assad "cannot" be one of them.
      

Any resolution to the fighting in Syria must involve President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Feb. 13 in the first such acknowledgement by the UN.        

"President Assad is part of the solution," de Mistura told a joint press conference with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in Vienna.        

Syria's government said it has turned over all its chemical weapons and adhered to an international treaty, after US accusations that it had carried out several chlorine gas attacks.

The U.N. Security Council on July 14 authorized humanitarian access without Syrian government consent at four border crossings into rebel-held areas from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan, although Syria has warned it deems such deliveries an attack. 

Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League mediator who has for months tried to put an end to Syria's ongoing civil war, announced his resignation.

The decision would be in force from May 31, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported in a joint press-conference with the veteran Algerian diplomat Brahimi on Tuesday.