US Special Envoy Denies Reports Alleging Deal With Russia to End War in Syria

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Reports of a potential deal between the United States, Russia and Israel to end the ongoing civil war in Syria lack credibility, US Special Representative Jim Jeffrey said during an event at the Middle East Institute in Washington on Tuesday.

"There has been no agreement by anybody on… that laundry list of, I don't know whether to call them claims, accusations or assertions that I also saw in that same media. I wouldn't give a lot of credit to it", Jeffrey said during the event.

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Meanwhile, Washington and Moscow continue to exchange views on the ongoing conflict in Syria and although both sides agree on the necessity of a  political end to the war no agreement has been reached yet said Jeffrey at the event.

"We have exchanged our views on Syria with Russia at every level", Jeffrey said at the Middle East Institute in Washington on Tuesday. "There's no agreement. There are no negotiations, but there are continued exchanges… We both agree that there needs to be a political end to this conflict".

On Monday, the Saudi edition of Asharq Al-Awsat, citing Western diplomatic sources, reported that the United States and Israel intend, at a trilateral meeting in Jerusalem, to offer Russia recognition of Assad's legitimacy and the lifting of sanctions on Syrian authorities if Moscow agrees to restrain alleged Iranian influence in the country.

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"I would not run ahead now. I want to urge everyone to be very careful about the subject, let's say, filter various disinformation and fakes, which will most likely be actively fed into the information space", Peskov said.

 The Syrian civil war, ongoing since 2011, has resulted in over 5.6 million refugees and over 6 million internally displaced people. As government forces led by President Bashar Assad, regained control over most of the country’s territories, they have strived to create conditions favourable to the repatriation of refugees. Moscow is assisting Damascus in this process, through the provision of humanitarian aid and as a guarantor of the ceasefire.