Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L to R) attend a press conference after the meetings of Vienna talks in Vienna, Austria, Oct. 30, 2015. There is still no agreement reached over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yet, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday told reporters after the meetings in Vienna. (Xinhua/Liu Xiang)
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VIENNA, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- There is still no agreement over the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the meeting in Vienna on Friday, although sides found some common ground over the solution for the country.
Key players took part in the multilateral talks in Vienna, pushing a diplomatic process forward to seek a solution for ending the ongoing Syria crisis, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry both said there is still difference over the future of al-Assad, although some progress was made in the talks.
Kerry acknowledged the fate of al-Assad was still a main point of contention amongst the nations participating in the Vienna talks, but noting U.S. position over Syria has not changed.
Some stake holders, especially U.S. and certain gulf nations, believe that, as a part of the solution for Syria, al-Assad must leave his president office.
In response to this issue, Russia said the people in Syria should decide the future for themselves, and that Russia wants to stop the crisis in Syria, saying Russia would continue fighting against terrorists in Syria.
However, despite the world major states and regional major countries, no delegation from Syria attended the meeting.
Top diplomats explained said that when sides found enough common ground and established a solid foundation in the process, Syrian government and opposition party could send their delegation to the negotiation table.
Russia has lunched air strike against the Islamic extremist in Syria for weeks, and Moscow noted Russia would continue fighting against the terrorist.
Washington also announced U.S. is to deploy small amount of special forces to northern Syria to advise opposition forces in the fight against Islamic State when sides were meeting in Vienna on Friday.
Kerry emphasized that the announcement of the operation at the same time when the meetings was ongoing in Austria is just a coincidence, noting terrorist groups in the states must be defeated.
Lavrov said U.S. decision to deploy the special force in the country would make the cooperation between the armed forces of both states more important.
"I am sure that neither the United States nor Russia want to become a so-called proxy war," he noted.
Both sides agreed to fight against terrorists and called for a cease fire in the country. But there was no specific plan of the anti-terrorist operation and cease fire timetable announced.
Kerry also said a cease fire does not include fighting against terrorists in Syria.
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