Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir and visiting British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond here today answered reporters' questions following their joint press conference. On allowing Iran to take part in international talks on Syria, Al-Jubeir stressed that the position of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over Syria has not changed over Geneva 1 Principle, in terms that there should be a transitional council, with executive power to run Syria and preserve military and civilian state institutions, asserting that Bashar al-Assad has no role at all in power and we will continue to support moderate Syrian opposition and intensify this support to change the balance on the ground. He said: "We think that we were able to work with our allies around the world, especially the ten countries that support the Syrian opposition in order to be a specific position and this was reflected in the transitional council through the transfer of power from Bashar al-Assad to the Council and removal of Bashar al-Assad and rehabilitation of Syria for a better future. We still have differences with Russia and Iran on how and when Bashar al-Assad will leave, and the vision of the partners in this is to test the intentions of the Iranians and the Russians on seriousness about reaching a peaceful political solution in Syria." For his part, British Foreign Secretary said, "I agree with what minister Al-Jubeir said, we are clear, all countries, except Russia and Iran, are clear that Assad must go, but the Russians and Iranians have different view. Their attitudes say that there should be elections and the Syrians decide. Our vision is that Al-Assad has too much blood to allow him to engage in this process. We have a clear position that we will not give up. Regarding the visit of Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yousef bin Alawi to Syria and the talks he held with Bashar al-Assad and the position of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Al-Jubeir said, "The position of the GCC toward Syria is one, and for Oman, I did not have a chance to talk with my colleague the Minister of the Sultanate of Oman and we must listen to their findings in Damascus and we do not doubt the intentions of any GCC country, and at the end we are sisterly, neighboring and ally countries and the fate of all GCC is the same, and the threat we face is the same and opportunities before us are the same. We are brothers and I cannot give you further details. I think it is better to ask the Sultanate on this matter." Regarding the Yemeni issue and approaching the end of the military operations, the British Foreign Secretary said, "We have several discussions and the last position was clear that the military campaign will reach a political stage and it is known that what happened now is that the military objective achievement has been accomplished and the strength of the coalition sets the right conditions. There are talks on political dialogue and negotiations to be represented by all Yemenis. The military phase will approach. Preparation for the political stage will be carried out now. minister Al-Jubeir confirmed that rebels in Yemen are more serious now to accept UN Resolution 2216 and engage in talks sponsored by the United Nations, noting that events indicate that the military campaign is ending and the ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh was expelled from his party and we saw gains on the ground and that the legitimate government entered Yemen, is operating within Yemen and is organizing the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid. --More 23:31 LOCAL TIME 20:31 GMT تغريد
