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US, Saudi, Turkey need to end attempts to oust Assad: Analyst

"There is only one way to peace and that is stop war and stop violence,” Shea says.

The United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should end their attempts to overthrow the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad and instead launch negotiations for peace in the region, says a political commentator.

“I don’t think Turkey or Saudi Arabia or the US or anybody else should be trying to overthrow the Syrian government,” Vietnam War veteran Daniel Shea told Press TV on Saturday.

Asked about the US calls on Turkey to position thousands of additional troops along its border with Syria to block the movement of Daesh (ISIL) terrorists, Shea said there is such confusion in the Middle East that we do not really know “who is doing what right now?”

Pentagon officials have estimated that as many as 30,000 troops are needed to cordon off a stretch of 60-mile (100 km) frontier, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

US officials say the porous border includes key transit routes that Daesh uses to move militants in and out of the war zone and into Europe.

Turkish officials have said that the Pentagon’s numbers are extravagant, but acknowledged the need for tighter border control.

The US and Turkey agreed in principle in July on a deal for the border, but operational planning was stalled by discord.

“There is only one way out of this...and that is we have to negotiate for peace, we have to bring all people to the table and we have to stop killing each other. There is only one way to peace and that is stop war and stop violence,” Shea added.

He also said Turkey’s recent downing of a Russian jet over the allegation that the warplane had repeatedly violated its airspace, “has only inflamed the situation much further.”

Relations between Ankara and Moscow have become very strained following Turkey's downing of the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet on Tuesday.


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