The White House said on Wednesday it would be a "nonstarter" to include the Syrian regime's Bashar Assad in any new ruling coalition government to end the civil war in Syria.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest ruled out Assad's participation in a new government after the Syrian leader said it would not be difficult to agree on a new Syrian governing coalition that included opposition, independents and loyalists.
"I don't know whether he envisioned himself being a part of that national unity government. Obviously that would be a nonstarter for us," Earnest said.Indirect peace talks at the United Nations in Geneva adjourned on Thursday after making little progress. The talks were able to go ahead after a limited truce, sponsored by the United States and Russia, took effect last month - although it excludes Daesh and the al-Nusra Front.
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura says he wants the negotiations to address political transition, which he called the "mother of all issues". But before the talks started, the Syrian government said the issue of the presidency was a red line.
TOWN ENCIRCLED
Remaining Daesh fighters had withdrawn on Tuesday from positions northeast of Palmyra, where they had fought the army a day earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Russian and Syrian jets targeted the town of Sukhna, about 60 km (40 miles) northeast of Palmyra where many retreating Daesh fighters had sought refuge, the Observatory said.
Syrian media said the army and its militia allies also captured territory around al-Qaryatain, about 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Palmyra, including farmland to the south and a mountain area to the west.
"The town is almost encircled," the Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman said. Russian jets carried 29 raids on al-Qaryatain on Tuesday morning alone, he said.
France, a key backer of opposition forces in Syria, said the Daesh defeat in Palmyra was positive news, but should not divert attention from the fact that the main culprit for the conflict is the Syrian government.
"The advances against Daesh today should not lead us to forget that the regime is primarily responsible for the conflict and the 270,000 people killed since five years," foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.
In addition to the quarter of a million fatalities, the war has displaced 10 million people, drawn foreign powers into the conflict and created the world's biggest refugee crisis.