REPORT: Death toll from Syria conflict likely as high as 120,000

The 'Friends of Syria' nations backing President Bashar al-Assad's opponents will meet next week in Jordan to push for a U.S.-Russian-sponsored conference to try to end the Syrian conflict, Jordanian officials said on Tuesday.

"The peace conference will be the focus of the meeting," one of the officials said.

Earlier, the Syrian Information Minister said that Syria wants details on a U.S.-Russian proposed conference and said the role of President Bashar al-Assad is a decision "only for the Syrian people and the ballot box".

Minister Zoabi was quoted by state news agency SANA as saying that Syria welcomed the proposal but stressed it "will not be a party at all to any ... meeting which harms, directly or indirectly, national sovereignty".

Zoabi added that his country is willing to carry out a joint investigation with Turkey in order to reveal the circumstances of the deadly attacks in the border town of Reyhanli that Ankara has accused Damascus of masterminding.

"If the Turkish Prime Ministry calls for a joint transparent investigation by the two countries, we will not object it," Information Minister Zoabi said.

In this regard, official media outlets quoted the latter as saying that the "truth must be announced to both the Turkish and Syrian people".

This as Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was important to avoid doing anything that might aggravate the civil war in Syria.

His remark, after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, appeared intended as a warning against foreign military intervention or arming the rebel forces fighting the Syrian government.

Israel is concerned that Russia plans to sell Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an advanced air defense system that could complicate any foreign intervention in the more than two-year-old insurgency that has killed tens of thousands.

Russia said on Friday it had no new plans to sell an advanced air defense system to the Assad government but left open the possibility it could deliver the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems under an existing contract.

Meanwhile, France's foreign minister warned a planned Syrian peace conference bringing both the government and rebels to the negotiating table would be hard to organize, doubting it could be held imminently.

"We want to create a transitional government that will take over the powers of (Syrian President) Bashar al Assad and as a result he would be sidelined," Laurent Fabius told RTL radio.

Separately, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 94,000 people have been killed during Syria's two-year conflict, but the death toll is likely to be as high as 120,000.

The group said that at least 41,000 of those confirmed killed were Alawites, the sect of President Bashar al-Assad.


REUTERS/LBCI

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