Sharaa Says Neither Side Can Win Decisively, Urges 'Historic Settlement'
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said in an interview to be published on Monday that neither his government nor the rebels fighting to overthrow it are capable of a decisive victory.
"No opposition can end the battle militarily, just as the security forces and army cannot achieve a decisive conclusion," Sharaa told the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar.
"Every day that passes, we are moving further away from a military or political solution. We must position ourselves to defend Syria's existence -- we are not in a battle for an individual or a regime," he said.
"The various opposition forces -- whether armed or civilian, or linked to foreign powers -- cannot claim they are the sole legitimate representatives of the Syrian people," said Sharaa, the most prominent Sunni Muslim official in President Bashar Assad's Alawite minority dominated regime.
"The current governing power, with its army possessing its own ideology, as well as its political parties, with the Baath party at the forefront, cannot alone create changes without new partners," he said.
He called for confidence-building measures between the warring parties and said that "the solution must be Syrian, but through a historic settlement including key regional countries and (U.N.) Security Council member states."
"This accord must first bring about an end to all forms of violence and establish a national unity government with broad powers," he added.
Sharaa, 74, has served the regime for decades, both under Assad and under his father and predecessor Hafez Assad, but has been seen in public only a few times since the uprising erupted in March last year.
His comments to al-Akhbar were his first published statements since July last year.
In October, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu suggested that the vice president would be a suitable pick to lead a transition government, calling him "a man of reason" who could stop the civil war in the country.
Source: Agence France Presse
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