Syrian refugees hold a large Syrian opposition flag at Al Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq
DUBAI: The Gulf countries and the European Union pledged yesterday to pool their efforts to help convene a peace conference on Syria, as they wrapped up a one-day ministerial meeting in Bahrain.
The gathering attended by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council also called on Shia Iran to play “a constructive role” in the Sunni-dominated region.
The ministers “reiterated the utmost urgency of finding a political settlement of the Syrian conflict,” said a statement issued at the end of the meeting.
They also pledged to “spare no effort in helping to create the appropriate conditions for a successful convening of the peace conference on Syria” which Russia and the United States have been striving to hold in Geneva.
The GCC and the EU also took a swipe at Lebanon’s Shia militant movement Hezbollah which backs the Damascus regime in the 27-month conflict and “condemned” its role “in military operations in Syria”. The statement, however, made no mention of demands by Syria’s armed opposition for weapons. AFP
