Arab nationalists

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.
      

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said March 16 he was waiting for US "actions" after Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged talks with Damascus were necessary to end the country's conflict.
      

Recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry regarding possible negotiations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have prompted strong reactions from Ankara.

"What is there to negotiate [with al-Assad]?" Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu told reporters in Phnom Penh on March 16 during a visit to Cambodia.

The United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a political transition in Syria and is exploring ways to pressure him into agreeing to talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told CBS News in an interview.

The United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar Assad, US Secretary of State John Kerry told CBS News on Sunday.

"We have to negotiate in the end. We've always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process," the US top diplomat said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, referring to the June 30, 2012 conference on Syria.

The Incirlik Airbase could only be used by the international coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) group if there is a "comprehensive process", a spokesperson for the Turkish Foreign Ministry has said.

Tanju Bilgic said on Wednesday the inclusion of the base in US-led operations was currently "out of the question".

Vatan Party (VP) Chairman Do?u Perinçek and a Turkish delegation accompanying him has met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

Four French lawmakers who say they are on a private visit to Syria, despite a breakdown in diplomatic ties between Paris and Damascus, met with President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday, one of them told AFP.
      

A cross-party group of French lawmakers held talks with Syrian officials in Damascus on Feb. 24, the first such contacts in the Syrian capital since the closure of France's embassy there in 2012.
   
However, the French Foreign Ministry made it clear the lawmakers did not represent France, which opposes any rapprochement with the government of Bashar al-Assad.
   

Yesterday marked three important developments in areas related to the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). First, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that months-long talks between Ankara and Washington to train and equip the moderate Syrian oppositions have been finalized and have yielded a draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU).