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U.S. state secretary arrives in Vienna ahead of Syria talks

Xinhua, October 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Vienna on Thursday afternoon ahead of talks on the Syrian crisis set to take place on Friday.

He will be joined by Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov who is expected to arrive on Friday, along with Turkish counterpart Feridun Sinirlioglu, and Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir who are both presently already in Vienna.

The meeting to discuss the crisis that has been going on since 2011 will likely be a difficult one, particularly in terms of differing opinions regarding what the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be.

Al-Jubeir had Thursday stressed an end to the conflict would not be reached until Assad would be ousted from power, something the U.S. and to a lesser extent Turkey agree with. Russia will thus be the lone supporter of the Assad administration.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz had met with al-Jubeir to discuss the conflict Thursday, after which he reiterated his stance that the goal must be for a quick end to violence, "so that that fewer people will be forced to flee Syria." Endit