Paris attacks spur Syria talks in Austria

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Vienna for a critical global diplomatic meeting on the crisis in Syria.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said that the majority of delegates wanted an immediate ceasefire in Syria.

Moscow's proposals for elections in Syria following an 18-month constitutional reform process have received a frosty reception in the West because they do not guarantee Mr Assad's departure from power.

While US leaders have long stated that Assad can not be allowed to remain in power, Kerry and other USA officials have softened their tone on the matter in recent weeks - suggesting instead that Assad has no place in Syria's "long-term future" but leaving the door open for him to stay around during a longer transition period. That process is to be completed by the time the political process between the government and opposition begins in January.

Within six months, the negotiations between the Syrian sides are to establish "credible, inclusive and non-sectarian" transitional government that would set a schedule for drafting a new constitution and holding a free and fair U.N.-supervised election within 18 months, according to a joint statement released by the United Nations on behalf of the 19 parties to the talks. Western powers and their allies have insisted al-Assad must leave power as part of any political solution to the four-year conflict. "That's the perception of the people waging the war". "You will even fear traveling to the market", said an Arabic speaking militant in the video. "ISIS is your enemy".

Steinmeier spoke at the end of a daylong meeting of almost 20 countries represented by foreign ministers and their deputies seeking to end Syria's war.

Across the Middle East, most Arab governments expressed shock and anger at the gun and bomb assault that left at least 128 people dead. "One of the objectives of the Vienna meeting is to see concretely how we can strengthen the worldwide coordination in the fight against Daesh", French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters in Vienna before the main meeting started.

Deadly attacks in Paris forced a shift in the focus of Syrian peace talks on Saturday to the fight against Islamic State, with France saying foreign ministers meeting in Vienna should concentrate on the battlefield rather than political process.

"The best response to this is actually coming together, overcoming our differences and trying together to lead to a peace in Syria", Mogherini stressed.

"The terrorist attacks that targeted the French capital Paris can not be separated from what happened in the Lebanese capital Beirut lately and from what has been happening in Syria for the past five years and in other areas", he said.