Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said his country’s position on the Syrian crisis has not changed stressing that the Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad is the main problem in Syria and has no future in the country.
Speaking at a joint press conference with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Al-Jubeir revealed that his country has been talking to Russian officials to discuss Assad’s departure in any future settlement of the crisis.
Asked if Saudi had changed its stance, Al-Jubeir said: “There is no change, from the beginning of the crisis, the position of the kingdom is that Bashar is the problem in the Syria crisis. He killed hundreds of thousands of his people, displaced millions and destroyed the country as a whole.”
“He has no future in Syria,” he added.
Commenting on former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s remarks that Iran has no role in Yemen, Al-Jubeir said: “The Iranians are in Yemen and have been backing Houthi rebels with weapons and military experts.”
Al-Jubeir said the military operations led by Saudi in Yemen aim to free the country and end the conflict there.
Fabius also stressed that it was not possible to imagine a future for Syria with Bashar Al-Assad, noting that his country has recently begun carrying out strikes against Daesh based on the principle of self-defence and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.