Syrian opposition's Alkhatib meets US, Russia, UN officials to discuss Syrian crisis

Joe Biden

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The president of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Moaz Alkhatib meets US Vice President Joe Biden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss the political transition in the war-torn country. 

This is the first meeting where the United States and Russia discuss the 22-month-long war in Syria that has killed more than 60,000 people and displaced another 700,000.

"We'll be discussing the political way forward," said Ben Rhodes, US deputy national security adviser. "And what we would like to see from other countries, including Russia, is an acknowledgment that Bashar al-Assad must go and that there needs to be a transition within Syria to a new government," Rhodes added.

"I think Russia warmed to the meeting after Alkhatib's proposal (to talk to Syria officials). The Coalition has adopted a position of constructive vagueness on whether Assad should step down first for a transition to happen, and it has stirred things up," said a member of SNC.