U.N.'s Ban urges Assad to seek political solution to Syria crisis

A man pushes his bicycle past rubble amid dust from what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus September 10, 2014. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged President Bashar al-Assad to seek a political solution to Syria's war, saying this would help international efforts against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, al-Hayat newspaper reported on Wednesday.

In an interview with the pan-Arab daily, Ban said years of war between Assad's forces and armed rebel groups had allowed militants such as Islamic State to take root in the region.