Assad says de-escalation zones chance for rebels to reconcile | Reuters

MINSK/BEIRUT Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that de-escalation zones proposed by his ally Russia were a chance for rebels to "reconcile" with Damascus and drive out Islamist militants, but vowed to fight on calling U.N.-led peace talks fruitless.Assad pledged, in an interview with Belarusian TV Channel ONT aired on Thursday, to defend the zones and to crush, with the support of Iran and Hezbollah, those who try to breach them.Efforts over the past year to halt the six-year Syrian war have fallen flat, and a ceasefire agreed to by the government side and rebels in December was violated early on.Russia's proposal for zones took effect last week, covering areas in the west of the country and Damascus has suggested there could be a role for Russian military police. Assad said the primary aim was to protect civilians."The second goal is to give the militants who want reconciliation with the state a chance ... to settle their cases, hand over their weapons in return for amnesty," he said.Damascus has said rebels should help drive jihadist groups out of the de-escalation zones, and sees so-called reconciliation agreements, which have involved the evacuation of rebels from besieged areas, as an alternative to peace talks.

The post Assad says de-escalation zones chance for rebels to reconcile
| Reuters appeared first on Firstpost.