Syria Foreign Minister Walid Muallem (AFP photo)
Syria will take part in United Nations talks aimed at launching formal negotiations on ending its four-year war but will not be bound by their outcome, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said today.
Walid Muallem told the United Nations General Assembly that he understood the talks, proposed by United Nation envoy Staffan de Mistura, to be "mainly to exchange ideas" and non-binding.
"I would like to announce here that Syria agrees to participate in the four brainstorming committees of experts proposed by the special envoy Staffan de Mistura," said Wallid Muallem.
Staffan De Mistura traveled to Syria last month to win President Bashar al-Assad's support for the new plan, the latest bid by the United Nations to lay the groundwork for peace after two failed attempts.
The four working groups will tackle safety and protection, political and legal affairs, the military and counter-terrorism, and reconstruction.
The foreign minister made clear that fighting the Islamic State group was the government's immediate focus and declared that the "Syrian army is capable of cleansing the country of those terrorists."
"Syria cannot implement any democratic political measures related to elections, a constitution or the like, while terrorism is striking at home," he said.
Wallid Muallem addressed the 193-nation assembly as Russian warplanes carried out a third day of air strikes in Syria, this time targeting the Islamic State bastion of Raqa.
Russia and the United States have clashed over how to address the crisis in Syria with Moscow insisting that President Bashar al- Assad's army must take part in the military campaign to defeat Islamic State jihadists.
Washington is calling for President Bashar al- Assad to step down and hold him responsible for the majority of the 240,000 deaths from the war.
More than four million people have fled the Syrian conflict, with many thousands heading to Europe, which is now facing its worst migrant crisis since World War II.