John Kerry admits the U.S. will HAVE to negotiate with Bashar Assad – despite spending years saying Syrian dictator should be removed from power

‘The United States will have to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar Assad for a political transition in Syria and is exploring ways to pressure him into agreeing to talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has admitted.

Washington has long insisted that Assad must be replaced through a negotiated, political transition, but the rise of a common enemy, hardline militant group Islamic State, has evidently softened the administration’s stance towards him.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Kerry did not repeat the standard U.S. line that Assad had lost all legitimacy and had to go. Syria’s civil war is now into its fifth year, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions of Syrians displaced.’

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