Path to Syria peace not a military one: Iranian official

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, Iran has always believed that the Syrian nation must decide about the future of the country, says a foreign ministry official.    
 
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari made the remarks on Monday during an IRIB interview.
 “The crisis in Syria has been going on for over five years, one of the reasons behind the sluggish peace process is that some countries believe that it has a military solution, but Iran has, since the beginning, believed that a military solution will reach nowhere and that there is no path but that chosen by the people of Syria,” he said.
 
He said certain countries are responsible for turning the crisis in Syria into a multilateral problem, and they are still pursuing a military solution, adding that another obstacle to resolving the crisis is the number of players in the situation.
 
Jabaeri Ansari went on to condemn a US attack the killed dozens of Syrian government troops in the country’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.
 He stressed that the US’s explanation that it had mistakenly killed around 80 government troops battling Daesh was unacceptable.
 
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. Over the past few months, the Takfiri militants active in the Arab country have suffered major setbacks as the Syrian army has managed to liberate several areas.