US ‘gratified’ by India’s support on Syria

The United States has said it was “gratified” by India’s support to a resolution on Syria at the United Nations Security Council.

“With regard to India, we were gratified by their support,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, when asked about India voting in favour of the US-backed resolution on Syria at the UNSC, vetoed by Russia and China.

She reiterated that it was time for the Assad regime to go as it had lost its legitimacy to rule the country and that it supports Syrian opposition’s planning of a transitional governing authority.

“There’s going to have to be an interim authority until we can get to elections there, and that all of our support needs to go into that.”

“And also that there is going to have to be some kind of a transitional security arrangement that all the parties in Syria are also going to have to think about, assuring the safety of all of the citizens of Syria in the transition period,” Nuland said.

Observing that it is for Syrian people to decide on their next leaders, she said: “What we are trying to do is encourage and help all the strands of the Syrian opposition work together to hasten the day when Syria has the democratic chance that the Syrian people want.”

The US official also warned against any use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. “The Syrian regime has a responsibility to the world, first and foremost to its own citizens to protect and safeguard those weapons, and that kind of loose talk just speaks to the kind of regime that we’re talking about,” she said.

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