  U.S., Turkish officials meet to hasten Bashar al-Assad's overthrow August 23, 2012 - 21:13 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish and US officials have begun their first "operational planning" meeting aimed at bringing about the demise of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's embattled regime, as heavy fighting continued in Damascus and Aleppo, The Telegraph reported. The meeting is expected to coordinate military, intelligence and political responses to the crisis in Syria where a deadly crackdown on peaceful protests that began in March 2011 has according to activists claimed more than 23,000 lives. The officials are also due to discuss contingency plans in the case of potential threats including a chemical attack by the regime in Damascus which Washington has called a "red line". Turkish foreign ministry deputy under-secretary Halit Cevik and US ambassador Elisabeth Jones are leading the delegations made up of intelligence agents, military officials and diplomats at the meeting in Ankara, a Turkish foreign ministry source said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced their plans for such a mechanism to hasten the end of President Bashar al-Assad's regime on August 11. Partner news  Top stories U.S. officials say they want to advance efforts to start talks between the Syrian government and opposition leaders. The international conference, backed by Russia and the U.S., aims to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria. Nuland, a career foreign service officer who was until recently State's top spokesperson, was expected to be nominated the post. Alkhatib said Assad should respond within 20 days and that he should then be given a month to dissolve parliament.   Partner news |  Latest news Israeli security expert says Syrian hacker attack foiled  Israel refuses to comment on the strike but officials at the time said Iranian missiles set for Hezbollah were hit.Gyumri to host Europe Day celebrations The celebrations will feature a small information fair, with EU project representatives to brief the visitors on the initiatives launched.1st Armenian interactive fairy tale available for iPhone/iPod Touch The tale sparked great interest in Diaspora. Such projects, namely interactive version of “Alice in Wonderland”, are popular abroad.Expert says Russian FM’s remarks in context of Madrid Principles No decisive developments will follow the meeting between Russian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, David Jamalyan said. |
