“[Secretary of State John] Kerry lays prostate really, prostrate, in front of [Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov”.
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“If what the Russians and the Americans agree upon is very much different from what the Syrians aspire to, then we shall not accept it”, Mr Hijab said in London, where the HNC has been holding talks with its foreign backers.
Kerry has long expressed frustration with the lack of progress on Syria and faced criticism for trying to make a deal with Russian Federation, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom U.S. President Barack Obama has said “must go”.
But the crucial stumbling block is likely to be Mr Assad.
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who is hosting the meeting, wrote in The Times that there “was still a chance that this vision can be made to work”.
He points to the HNC’s transition plan as an answer to what will replace Mr Assad – “a safe space, free from terror, to which migrants can return”.
The five-and-a-half-year conflict has forced more than 4.8 million people to flee Syria, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.
“This is a vision for all the Syrians and for Syria”, Riyad Hijab, the coordinator of the HNC and former prime minister of Syria, told reporters while introducing the plan.
London – In an attempt to end the crisis in Syria, the country’s opposition parties have agreed on a transitional roadmap that would set the basis for an interim government to be formed within a six-month period. Mr Assad and his immediate clique would be excluded from the transitional body.
“The Russians badly want this agreement”, one senior official said.
The U.S. -Russia proposal being discussed would make way for a political transition but does not elaborate on Assad’s future.
“As a mother I can not any more tolerate killing the Syrian civilians”.
The goal is “building a political system that protects freedoms, safeguards individual rights, and that is founded upon the principles of liberty, equality, citizenship, and justice”.
The document said minority groups would have their rights protected and an “inclusive national dialogue” would be launched with “no exceptions or exclusions”.
“They propose a gradual transition”. The latest offensive by the Syrian regime has led to opposition supply lines being cut in the city. However, even if the United States and its allies take most of ISIS’s territory in Iraq and Syria, the group likely will continue to fight on using guerilla and terrorist tactics. “This is an attempt to tell the global community there is a way though this conflict”.
“Above all, the High Negotiations Committee does not represent the victory of one sectarian group over another or the transfer of power from one faction in Syria to another”.
Turkey should refrain from taking deeper steps into Syria, said Russia’s foreign ministry in a statement issued Wednesday, arguing Ankara’s actions call into question Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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Turkey said on Wednesday that it was in favour of a joint operation with the U.S. to oust the IS extremists from their de facto capital of Raqa in northern Syria.
