Syrian Rebels Reject Peace Talks
A coalition of nineteen Syrian rebel groups has warned that anybody who decides to engage in peace talks with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad will be charged with treason, CNN reports.
“We consider participation in Geneva II and negotiating with the regime to be trading the blood of martyrs and treason, and those involved in it will be held accountable in our courts,” the coalition said in a video statement released on Sunday.
The rebel groups said they will reject any resolution that does not call for ousting the al-Assad government and holding its members accountable for war crimes.
The UN has estimated that over 100,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict that broke out in March 2011, when government forces cracked down on peaceful protesters during the Arab Spring movement, and has since turned into a full-blown civil war.
Syrian government officials and opposition leaders are likely to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, at the end of November this year to try to broker an end to the country’s civil war.
The above mentioned consortium consists of nineteen of the many opposition groups that have emerged during the war with politics ranging from militant Islamist to relatively pro-Western.
The coalition’s members are mostly Islamist rebels, who claim not to be involved with the hard-line radical core that has ties with al-Qaeda inside Syria.
The portion of the statement calling involvement in the talks “treason” and warning of accountability “in our courts” is directed against the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), which is based in Istanbul, Turkey.
The SNC has again delayed the vote on whether or not it should engage in talks with the regime in Damascus, most probably as a result of internal conflicts between its members that may be preventing it from reaching consensus.
The CNN publication also outlines the U.S. strategy in arranging these talks – Russia’s role would be to secure the Syrian government’s involvement, and the United States would get the opposition to the table, but the recent developments are seen as a significant setback to hopes for inclusive and effective peace talks in Syria.
International leaders strongly hope that Geneva II will pave the way to steady and long-lasting peace in Syria.
In the wake of the groups’ rejection, the U.N. special envoy on Syria Lakhdar Brahimi was quoted by CNN as saying that invitations for Geneva II are not yet out, nor is the list of those who will participate.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed hope last week that the talks will help bring about a much-needed democratic transition for Syria in which Bashar al-Assad plays no part.
Hague’s words followed a “Friends of Syria” meeting that brought together the foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France, Turkey and Gulf nations, along with Syrian opposition leaders.
Tehran, an ally of the Syrian regime and a supporter in its stance toward the rebels, said Saturday it will take part in the proposed conference if it receives an invitation, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported as quoted by CNN. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters Saturday that Iran will do its best to help solve the issue through dialogue between the Syrian parties.
But the coalition announced on Sunday that it will not participate in the talks if Iran is there.
“They (Iran) were not present in the first round of the Geneva talks. They are part of the problem, not the solution,” said Louay Safi, spokesman for the opposition group, making reference to Iran’s activities in Syria.
The United States and Russia announced in May this year that they would try to bring the warring parties in Syria to a second conference in Geneva to implement the peace plan they endorsed at Geneva I in 2012, which left open the question of whether al-Assad must leave power.
Syria on its part has met its deadline for presenting a plan for getting rid of its chemical weapons arsenal, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Sunday.
Damascus also sent a declaration covering activities not prohibited by the chemical weapons treaties as a “confidence-building measure,” the organization said in a written statement.
But even so, the Syrian opposition has again protested that al-Assad’s government has little to stop the killing of
standartnews