President Bashar al-Assad must be included in a peaceful solution to the conflict in Syria, the UN envoy to Syria said here Friday.
In a press conference after meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy, said any solution to the fighting in Syria must include al-Assad, who still controls most parts of the country.
"President Assad is part of the solution," Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.
The Islamic State (IS) will be benefited if no solution to the conflict is agreed to, according to de Mistura.
Earlier this week, de Mistura met with Assad in Damascus, the capital of Syria.
Kurz said it was necessary to fight against the IS, but would never see Assad as a friend or even a partner.
Some 200,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011.
