Germany's Merkel: Assad must be involved in Syria talks

On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that President Bashar al-Assad should be involved in any Syrian peace talks, amid mounting pressure to end the four-year conflict.

"We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well," Merkel told a press conference after an EU summit on the migration crisis sparked by the Syrian war.

"Not only with the United States of America, Russia, but with important regional partners, Iran, and Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia," Merkel added.

The comments by the leader of Europe's biggest political and economic power come amid increasing signs that Western powers who were once insistent on Assad's departure may be softening their positions in a bid to end the war.

"We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well" -Angela Merkel

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that although Assad must step down, that need not immediately be upon reaching a settlement to end the country's civil war.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has made similar comments.

Russia and the United States launched military talks on the Syrian conflict last week as Moscow increased its build-up of forces in the war-torn country.

But French President Francois Hollande, whose country is set to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State group (IS, formerly ISIS) in Syria, insisted Thursday that there could be no place for Assad.

"There can be no transition without his departure," Hollande insisted after the summit.

"The future of Syria will not pass through Bashar al-Assad."

Merkel, Hammond, Hollande and the other EU leaders issued a statement after the Brussels summit calling for a new push for peace.

"As regards Syria, we call for a renewed U.N.-led international effort to bring an end to the war that has caused so much suffering and forced an estimated 12 million people to leave their homes," the summit statement said.

Assad in 'rare appearance'

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad attended holiday prayers at a Damascus mosque on Thursday, state media reported, in a rare public appearance.

"President Assad led Eid al-Adha prayers at the Al-Adel mosque in Damascus, with senior officials from the (ruling Baath) party, the state, and a number of Muslim religious leaders and civilians," Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

"There can be no transition without [Assad's] departure" - Francois Hollande

In a photograph published on his official Twitter account, Assad appears standing in prayer, flanked by Prime Minister Wael Halaqi and Grand Mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun.

On Wednesday, Assad issued two decrees increasing monthly wages for public sector employees in Syria, in an apparent gesture on the eve of the Muslim holiday.

Since the uprising against his rule erupted in March 2011, Assad's few public appearances have been mostly limited to official prayers on feast days.

Damascus has been largely spared the devastation wrought on other Syrian cities by the civil war, although there has been periodic mortar and rocket fire by rebels entrenched in the suburbs.