Saudi Arabia's top diplomat said the timing of the departure of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the withdrawal of foreign fighters remain the main sticking points to finding a lasting resolution to the civil war in Syria. A senior US official, meanwhile, said Russia's military intervention in Syria will drag Moscow into a "quagmire". Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir and US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken made the comments Saturday at the Manama Dialogue security conference, just hours after their two countries and more than a dozen others agreed to pursue a new peace effort involving Syria's government and opposition groups. Syria dominated discussions at the gathering of Western and Arab officials in the Bahraini capital. Al-Jubeir downplayed the significance of what had been achieved at the talks in Vienna, declaring in Bahrain that "We have not been able to reach agreement." He said the Kingdom's policy toward Syria has not changed, and that it would continue to support what he called the moderate Syrian opposition. He described the presence of foreign forces, particularly Iranian, as a roadblock to ending the fighting. Al-Jubeir also made clear that the negotiations had done nothing to change Saudi Arabia's position that Assad must go. "Ideally he should leave this afternoon. The sooner the better," Al-Jubeir said. Al-Jubeir also said on Saturday that US support of the Gulf is at an "all-time high" when asked by Al Arabiya News to comment on the absence of aircraft carriers in the region. "The relationship with the US in the strategic sense has not changed. The American presence in the region has in fact increased, whether aircraft carriers have been withdrawn or not. The number of American troops and forces in the region is almost at a record high," Al-Jubeir said. Blinken was less blunt when it came to a timetable for Assad's departure. He suggested that Russia's military intervention in Syria, though widely seen as a strong sign of support for Assad, could end up incentivizing Moscow to work toward a political transition that removes him from power. "Russia cannot afford to sustain its military onslaught against everyone opposed to Assad's brutal rule. The costs will mount every day in economic, political, and security terms — but at best only to prevent Assad from losing," Blinken said. He predicted a "quagmire" that draws Russia deeper into a conflict alongside Syria's allies Iran and the Shiite group Hezbollah, and which alienates Sunni Muslims both in the region and in Russia itself. Blinken said the United States remained "laser focused" on what he called objectionable Iranian actions including support of terrorism in the region in the wake of its nuclear deal with major powers. "We realize that the Iran Nuclear Deal is just that, a deal. We have no illusions of its bigger impacts across the region. So we are laser focused on Iran's objectionable actions and activities in the region and we have and will address them." He also said that the region is "home to some of our oldest allies." "President Obama made it clear that defending them against aggression has been, is and will always remain a core national interest of the United States," he added. Saudi Arabia also hopes Iran will use the financial proceeds it secures after sanctions are lifted after its nuclear deal with world powers to develop its economy rather than for "aggressive policies," Al-Jubeir said at a security conference. He added that he believed the conflict in Yemen, where it is backing forces fighting the Iran-allied Houthi group, was entering a "final phase", citing military advances made by a Riyadh-led coalition. Iranian support for subversion in Arab states is as big a threat to the region as the Daesh (so-called IS) group, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said at the annual Manama Dialoguew "Iran's action, especially in Bahrain, is as big a threat to us than Daesh," the official added. "These actions are no less a threat to us than Daesh," he said while accusing Iran of smuggling arms into Bahrain. He added that the Houthi militia in Yemen can have a future in the country so long as it disarms and participates in a political solution. "We can work with our neighbors in the region, but not at the expense of our security and stability," Sheikh Khaled added. He also discussed a recent escalation in deadly violence at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. "With everything that is going on in the region, the violence in Aqsa is the last thing we need in our region. But no challenge is more pressing for the region than the Syrian crisis," he added. Earlier, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Dr. Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al Zayani, stressed that the people of the region do not want wars, bloodshed and humanitarian disasters that currently is afflicting their region, but they want to see it as a secure, stable, prosperous, sustainable and mass destruction weapons free zone. Dr. Al Zayani said terrorism arose from the chaos and the security vacuum that followed Iraq's 2003 war. He also stressed that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories was and still the excuse for all forms of extremism and violence, including the violence fueled by the Israeli state. He called for the revival of the peace process in the Middle East, stressing the need to fight extremism, restore stability and achieve maximum cooperation among the region's countries. — Agencies
