World powers to discuss Syrian crisis in Geneva

An international conference on the ongoing Syrian conflict will take place in Geneva on June 30, RIA Novosti reports.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underlined that all members of the UN Security Council and regional powers such as Iran and Turkey should be invited.

Britain and America are willing to offer Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad safe passage and even clemency as part of a diplomatic push to convene a UN-sponsored conference in Geneva on political transition in Syria, Gulf News reports.

The initiative comes after David Cameron and Barack Obama received encouragement from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in separate bilateral talks at the G20 in Mexico.

A senior British official said: “Those of us who had bilaterals thought there was just enough out of those meetings to make it worth pursuing the objective of negotiating a transitional process in Syria.”

With daily reports of civilian deaths and the conflict apparently taking on an increasingly sectarian hue, Britain is willing to discuss giving clemency to Al-Assad if it would allow a transitional conference to be launched. He could even be offered safe passage to attend the conference.