-
Tips for becoming a good boxer - November 6, 2020
-
7 expert tips for making your hens night a memorable one - November 6, 2020
-
5 reasons to host your Christmas party on a cruise boat - November 6, 2020
-
What to do when you’re charged with a crime - November 6, 2020
-
Should you get one or multiple dogs? Here’s all you need to know - November 3, 2020
-
A Guide: How to Build Your Very Own Magic Mirror - February 14, 2019
-
Our Top Inspirational Baseball Stars - November 24, 2018
-
Five Tech Tools That Will Help You Turn Your Blog into a Business - November 24, 2018
-
How to Indulge on Vacation without Expanding Your Waist - November 9, 2018
-
5 Strategies for Businesses to Appeal to Today’s Increasingly Mobile-Crazed Customers - November 9, 2018
Syrian opposition reacts coolly to UN-backed peace plan
THE UN Security Council’s unanimous support of a peace process for Syria that is set to begin next month with government-opposition talks and a ceasefire represents its strongest gesture yet in support of a solution to the civil war.
Advertisement
This as the UN Security Council overcame past differences and approved the time-frame and conditions for worldwide peace talks on Syria.
The four-year armed conflict in Syria could be wrapped up in less than a year, if foreign aid to terrorist groups were cut in earnest, Syrian President Bashar Assad told the Dutch media ahead of peace talks in NY.
It also requests that Ban report back to the Security Council on the implementation of the resolution, “including on progress of the UN-facilitated political process”, within 60 days.
It calls on Ban to present options for a ceasefire-monitoring mechanism within a month.
“We are under no illusions about obstacles that exist”, Kerry said.
However, Syrian ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari criticised the “glaring contradictions” between the talk about letting the Syrian people decide their fate and talking about replacing Mr Assad.
On Thursday, Hijab, who defected from Assad’s government in 2012, won the backing of more than two thirds of the 34 delegates of opposition groups summoned to Riyadh by world powers in a bid to unite them and settle longstanding rivalries.
According to the resolution, a “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” government should be established in Syria within six months and UN-supervised “free and fair elections” should be held within 18 months.
The resolution also called on the parties to immediately allow rapid and safe access throughout Syria for immediate humanitarian aid to reach all people in need, and to release arbitrarily detained persons, particularly women and children.
Hailing the agreement as a “historic moment…to cut off Daesh financing”, Mr Osborne said: “We’ll choke off Daesh trade in oil, end extortion, stop sales of historic artefacts and take the fight to middlemen who trade in currency of evil”.
“We know that Daesh can never be allowed to gain control in Syria so we have a global imperative here to deal with a terrorist entity but also to end the civil war”, he said.
Syrian allies Russian Federation and Iran have consistently rejected foreign governments’ calls for the president’s departure.
Advertisement
“Terrorist groups have no place in this national dialogue”, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted by the official Irna news agency as saying.