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Syrian foreign minister says cease-fire agreement 'not dead'

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, file photo, provided by the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets, rescue workers work the site of airstrikes in the al-Sakhour neighborhood of the rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo, Syria. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in a TV interview broadcast Monday, Sept. 26, 2016, that an internationally-brokered cease-fire for Syria is still viable, as rescue workers in Aleppo cleaned up from what they said were the worst airstrikes on rebel-held areas of the northern city in five years. Syria’s military declared the cease-fire ended one week ago. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE -- In this In this March 12, 2016 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem sits beneath a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad as he speaks during a press conference in Damascus, Syria. An internationally-brokered cease-fire for Syria is still viable, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said in a TV interview broadcast Monday, Sept. 26, 2016, and President Bashar Assad’s administration is prepared to take part in a unity government. The interview on Mayadeen TV came as rescue workers in Aleppo cleaned up from what they said were the worst airstrikes on rebel-held areas of the northern city in five years. (SANA via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, an anti-Syrian government fighter, left, looks at a Syrian soldier, right, as he leaves the last besieged rebel-held neighborhood of Al-Waer in Homs province, Syria, Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. A new batch of rebels evacuated from the central city of Homs Monday, a Syrian official said. Homs governor Talal Barazi said 120 gunmen and their families were expected to depart al-Waer neighborhood by bus as part of an arrangement to restore government authority over the rebellious district. (SANA via AP) (The Associated Press)

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem says a U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire agreement is still viable and says his administration is prepared to take part in a unity government.

In an interview broadcast on the Mayadeen TV channel Monday, al-Moallem accused the U.S., Britain, and France of convening a U.N. Security Council meeting a day earlier in order to support "terrorists" inside Syria. But he said ongoing communications between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meant a truce agreement brokered two weeks ago is "not dead."

Syria's military declared the cease-fire ended one week ago.

Al-Moallem reaffirmed his government's proposed roadmap to end Syria's war, saying Damascus would support a referendum on a new constitution followed by parliamentary elections and the formation of a unity government.