Saudi Arabia: Syrian crisis to end with Assad defeat

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said on Friday that the Syrian crisis “will end either in a political process, which means a peaceful of power transition, or a military defeat of [Bashar] Al-Assad,” Almesryoon.com reported.

According to the Egyptian website, the Italian official TV reported the remarks after discussions took place between Al-Jubeir and his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni in Rome.

Al-Jubeir stressed that the best exit for the Syrian crisis is the “peaceful solution based on Geneva I announcement.”

He said that this announcement includes peaceful power transition with a wide government consisted of political Syrian factions to lay down a Constitution and prepare for elections, in addition to forming an elected government without Al-Assad.

For Al-Jubeir, Al-Assad lost his legitimacy and he has no role to play in the future of Syria after killing more than 300,000 Syrians and displacing 12 million others.

“We know that Iran supports Al-Assad as it sent its fighters to bolster him and facilitated the movement of the Shia militias in Iraq and other countries in the region like Hezbollah, who are fighting now in Syria,” Al-Jubeir said.

He reiterated that his country is insistent to “support the moderate Syrian opposition.”