Kerry blasts Syria's Assad for 'terrorism'

Source: Al Jazeera

US Secretary of State John Kerry has blamed the Syrian government for stonewalling peace talks, intended to bring the civil war to an end, and told Moscow it had to stop supplying President Bashar al-Assad's regime with weapons.

In Jakarta on Monday, Kerry said that Russia needed to be part of the solution and that Assad was trying to win on the battlefield rather than the negotiating table, a reference to the second phase of peace talks that ended last Friday to little fanfare.

Speaking during a trip to Asia and the Middle East, Kerry said: "The regime stonewalled. They did nothing except continue to drop barrel bombs on their own people and continue to destroy their own country. And I regret to say they are doing so with increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia."

"Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be contributing so many more weapons and so much more aid that they are in effect enabling Assad to double-down, which is creating an enormous problem."

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/02/kerry-blasts-assad-terrorism-torture-201421765635363646.html