BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 2. The US wants to see serious and credible political process in Syria, said the US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller during a briefing, Trend reports.
"In the immediate term, what we want to see are de-escalation and protection of civilians and minority groups. But our overall policy remains the same. We want to see a serious and credible political process to end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254. That resolution calls for a process facilitated by the United Nations where the Syrian regime and the opposition groups would negotiate a path forward for Syria," he said.
Miller said it's important that path to be Syrian-led and to have a process that ultimately leads towards elections.
"That's what we want to see over the long term. But in the short term, we want to see a de-escalation of the situation and protection of civilians," he explained.
A coalition of Syrian rebels launched a swift and coordinated assault, swiftly capturing Aleppo along with several towns in the neighboring Idlib and Hama provinces, according to the U.K.-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The offensive is being spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a militant group that evolved from the former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra.
In response to the rebel advances, Syrian and Russian fighter jets launched a series of airstrikes targeting the newly captured rebel-held territories.