Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
will not step down at a proposed peace conference in Geneva but will only discuss the formation of a national unity government, the foreign minister said on Monday.
Speaking at a presser in Damascus, Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem also slammed a decision by supporters of the Syrian opposition to arm the rebels, saying it would only prolong a conflict already in its 28th month.
"President Bashir al-Assad will not resign. If your condition (for talks at Geneva) is President Assad's resignation, don't bother coming," he said.
"We will head to Geneva not to hand over power to the other side... We will go to Geneva in order to set up a real partnership and a broad national unity government."
Despite supporting opposing sides in the conflict, Russia and the United States have spearheaded an initiative to hold a peace conference in Geneva.
But prospects for the conference appear dim, and it has already been pushed back from a mooted June date until July at the earliest.