A Syrian man crosses a street in Damascus on Monday. Russia said it would not permit a no-fly zone to be implemented over Syria, following reports that plans for such a measure were being drawn up by the US. Photo: AFP

Daily Special:
Syria crisis dominates G8 summit

US President Barack Obama met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday at the G8 summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, as the two leaders sought to narrow their differences on the Syrian conflict that was set to top the conference's agenda.

The meeting between Obama and Putin at the summit of some of the world's most powerful nations came days after the US alleged that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict and announced that it would offer direct military support to the Syrian rebels.

China said Monday the Syrian issue can only be solved via political means, urging the relevant parties to push for a political solution and not take actions that could lead to further militarization of the crisis.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Monday his country will not permit no-fly zones to be imposed over Syria.

"I think we fundamentally will not allow this scenario," Lukashevich said, according to Reuters. "All these maneuvers about no-fly zones and humanitarian corridors are a direct consequence of a lack of respect for international law."

Summit host British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday his priority was to ensure that a peace conference on the Syria conflict take place later this year, according to an AFP report.

Speaking to reporters in London after his Sunday meeting with Cameron, Putin voiced Russia's disapproval of the US plan to arm the Syrian rebels.

"One does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras," Putin said, referring to video released last month showing a Syrian rebel commander eating the heart of a dead soldier, Reuters reported.

Putin also insisted that Moscow had abided by international law when supplying weapons to Syria. "We are not breaching any rules and norms and we call on all our partners to act in the same fashion," he said.

Russia said earlier this month that it had not yet delivered the S-300 missiles, fearing that this would "disturb the balance in the region."

Russia is unlikely to make concessions on the Syrian issue at the summit, Xiao Xian, head of the Institute of International Studies at China's Yunnan University, told the Global Times.

"I don't think there will be any major breakthrough on the issue following the discussion by the two sides through the conference as Russia and the West hold entirely different views on the Syrian government and rebels," he said.

"And now more importantly, Assad's forces have already seized the initiative in its fight against the militants at home. So under the circumstances, Russia would of course dig its heels in," Xiao noted.

Benjamin Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said Thursday Washington determines with "high certainty" that the Syrian regime "used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year." But he said Obama has "not made any decision" to impose a no-fly zone in Syria and ruled out the possibility of deploying US ground troops.

Russia said it is not convinced by the US claim and the Syrian foreign ministry also dismissed Washington's allegations that it used chemical weapons as "full of lies."

Li Weijian, director of the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, told the Global Times Monday that although it is hard for Russia and the US to bridge their differences, the two sides might seek more joint efforts to push for an international peace conference on the Syria conflict.

"It is impossible for the West to gain UN approval if they want to impose no-fly zones or other military actions in Syria. So a peace conference seemed to be the only option accepted by both Russia and the West to seek a solution to the Syrian issue, and Moscow and Washington had an agreement on such a meeting," Li said.

Agencies contributed to this story