Rouhani Opposes US Request to Halt Military Flights Over Northern Syria

Reports indicate that Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, opposed the request made by US Secretary of State John Kerry to stop military flights over northern Syria during a meeting in New York on Wednesday. Following an attack on a United Nations humanitarian aid convoy near Aleppo on the evening of Monday, September 21, Kerry emphasized the necessity of humanitarian assistance to Syrian citizens and called for a halt to all flights over key aid routes in northern Syria during his speech at the UN Security Council meeting. In contrast, Rouhani stated in an interview with NBC News that halting military flights would strengthen two groups, ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. The Iranian president added that these groups must be pressured, and allowing aircraft to fly would be 100% beneficial to them. Kerry, however, insisted that stopping military flights could lend credibility to efforts aimed at ending the civil war in Syria. In another part of his NBC News interview, Rouhani responded to a question about how Iran would cope with a Syria without Assad, stating that the Syrian issue cannot be resolved militarily and must be settled politically. He emphasized the importance of maintaining Syria's territorial integrity and ensuring that terrorists are expelled from the country. Rouhani asserted that all groups, including the government and opposition, must have a role in Syria's future government. It is the people's duty to determine who should be the future president of Syria or who should represent them, and anyone chosen by the people must be recognized. He added that democracy and the sovereignty of the ballot box, as well as the future of the country, should only be determined by the people of that country. Iran, along with Russia, has supported Bashar al-Assad's government in the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. International organizations report that at least 400,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced in the Syrian civil war.