US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a political transition in Syria and was exploring ways with other countries to pressure him into agreeing to talks.
But State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said later that Kerry, in an interview with CBS News that aired on Sunday, was not specifically referring to Assad. She reiterated that Washington would never negotiate with the Syrian leader.
Harf added: "By necessity, there has always been a need for representatives of the Assad regime to be a part of this process. It has never been and would not be Assad who would negotiate - and the Secretary was not saying that today."
In the CBS interview, Kerry did not repeat the standard US line that Assad had lost all legitimacy and had to go. Syria's civil war is now into its fifth year, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions of Syrians displaced.
Kerry said the United States and other countries, which he did not name, were exploring ways to reignite the diplomatic process to end the conflict in Syria.
"We've made it very clear to people that we are looking at increased steps that can help bring about that pressure," he added.
Russia convened some opposition and government figures in January for talks on the crisis but they yielded little progress and were boycotted by the main opposition coalition.
"That's under way right now. And I am convinced that, with the efforts of our allies and others, there will be increased pressure on Assad."
"Diplomatic efforts are under way to de-escalate the conflict, which in some cases means negotiating with the regime. But US policy remains that Assad must go as part of a political transition - which isn't going to happen anytime soon," Tabler said.
Goal of the Uprising
The Western-backed Syrian opposition coalition reiterated that Assad's departure was a demand of the uprising against him.
"The overthrow of the head of the regime and its security apparatus is a key demand of the revolution as part of any future political solution and is also a primary goal of any negotiation process," the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces said on Twitter on Sunday.
Any attempts to make the revolution change its goal of overthrowing the current government and including it in the dialogue would go against the will of the Syrian people, said the opposition group, which despite having only tenuous links with fighters on the ground remains one of the main parties in international discussions to end the war.
Syria sank into civil war after a peaceful street uprising against four decades of Assad family rule began in March 2011. The revolt spiraled into an armed insurgency, which has deepened with the rise of Islamic State and other hardliners.
Assad seems more likely to survive the Syrian crisis than at any point since it began. Iran's support for Assad is as solid as ever, with Russia showing no sign of abandoning him.
US-led forces started air strikes against Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq in the summer. Washington has said the campaign in Syria is not coordinated with the Syrian military, which also views the group as its enemy.
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