Walid al-Moualem

Many in the Turkish media are happy to slam Israel and the U.S. over support for the Kurdish independence referendum, which would divide Iraq and have the potential to do the same to Turkey, but very little is said on Russia's stance.

The Syrian government is open to negotiations with Kurds over their demand for autonomy within Syria's borders, the foreign minister has said, striking a conciliatory tone as military tensions worsen between the sides in eastern Syria.

Russia and the United States have a shared understanding that U.S. air strikes on Syria should not be repeated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Moualem in Moscow on April 13, Interfax news agency reported.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Dec. 25  international efforts should focus on preventing insurgents from infiltrating from Turkey and Jordan to achieve progress towards a political settlement in Syria.

Syria is ready to take part in peace talks in Geneva and hopes that the dialogue will help it form a national unity government, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Dec. 24 during a visit to Beijing.

A top U.N. official says Geneva will host new diplomatic talks in January aimed at resolving the Syrian conflict.

Michael Moller, the head of the United Nations in Geneva, told reporters Dec. 22 that the talks are to take place in the U.N. office in the Swiss city, though he says no date has been set under the guidance of United Nations' Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura. 

The United States has conducted its first drone strike into northern Syria from a base in Turkey, the Pentagon said on Aug. 5, ahead of what Ankara said would soon be a "comprehensive battle" against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants there. 

Syria supports any efforts to combat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) if they are coordinated with Damascus but anything else would "be a breach of Syrian sovereignty", state television quoted the country's foreign minister as saying on Aug. 5.

The foreign ministers of Syria and Iraq met in Damascus on March 24 to discuss ways to tackle militant groups and Syria said it hoped Baghdad would help "break the siege" against it, Syrian state media said, ahead of an Arab summit.
   

The United Nations peace envoy to Syria said on Nov. 11 that Syrian officials had given him positive signals on a U.N. proposal for a local truce in the northern city of Aleppo, a main battleground in Syria's three-year-old war.