In this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, Russian army pilot poses at a cockpit of SU-25M jet fighter at Hmeimim airbase in Syria.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that no country could use military force in Syria without first securing the agreement of the Syrian government, the TASS news agency reported.

TASS said Ryabkov was responding to a question about the prospect of the United States launching a ground operation in Syria.

“The question of using military force in any form without the agreement of Damascus is for us unacceptable,” it quoted him as saying.

The key international players in the conflict remain bitterly divided over the question of Assad.

On one side, Russia and Iran are backing Assad’s forces on the ground and say Damascus must be helped to defeat “terrorism” before a political process can take shape.

On the other, the US and its key regional allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia are supporting groups fighting Assad and insist he must step down in favour of a unity government.

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