A senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday flatly rejected the idea of giving Syrian Kurds a measure of autonomy. The Kurdish-led authority that runs much of north and east Syria has presented a road map for a deal with Assad in recent meetings with Russia. The Kurds want to safeguard their autonomous region inside a decentralized state when US troops currently backing them pull out. Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, told Reuters on the sidelines of a Middle East conference in Moscow, organized by the Valdai Discussion Club, that “autonomy means the partition of Syria.” She added that “Syria is a country that is a melting pot for all people and all people are equal in front of Syrian law and in front of the Syrian constitution.” The adviser also called the Kurds “a precious and very important part of the Syrian people.”