Former leader of the Syrian National Coalition Moaz Alkhatib during a meeting in Istanbul yesterday.
ISTANBUL: Syria’s main opposition group met for key talks in Istanbul yesterday to debate whether to join a new US-Russian peace initiative to end the two-year civil war, while the regime vowed to crush the insurgency.
Holding its seventh general assembly meeting since its creation last November, the National Coalition is expected to choose a new president, discuss incorporating new members and decide the fate of an interim rebel government, opponents said.
The three-day meeting comes as rebels face a massive onslaught by President Bashar Al Assad’s forces and the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah in the insurgent bastion of Qusayr, central Syria. Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, more than 90,000 people have been killed.
The opponents’ meeting begins a day after backers of the anti-Assad uprising during a meeting in Amman pledged more assistance to the opposition should the regime fail to commit to a peaceful political transition.
During Wednesday’s meeting in Amman, the Friends of Syria group also tried to agree the contours of a peace conference to end the war. The opposition has long held that it can only enter into talks with members of the regime if negotiations are guaranteed to lead to the fall of Assad’s regime.
While Assad has repeatedly said the Syrian war can only end with a political solution, state news agency SANA hinted yesterday the regime may defy the US-Russian push for peace.
“Having proclaimed themselves spokesmen for the Syrian people, participants (in the Amman meeting) have blocked the road towards the holding of an international conference” for peace, said SANA, in reference to the meeting dubbed Geneva 2 proposed by the US and Russia. “The enemies of Syria have clearly announced they will confiscate the Syrians’ right to carve out their country’s political future and to end the crisis through a political solution”, SANA added.
Also yesterday, Assad reportedly told a Tunisian delegation he was determined to crush the rebellion “and those who support it regionally and globally”, SANA said. The opposition’s ambassador in France Monzer Makhous said SANA’s dismissal of the Friends of Syria meet was “a sign” that the regime may reject the Geneva 2 proposal. “It is not an official refusal, but it is a sign. SANA would never provide any information that does not reflect the government’s position,” Makhous said.
“I feel it is unlikely that this conference (Geneva 2) would be able to reach a real solution to the Syrian crisis — not because the opposition would not want that, but because the regime does not want that,” he added. AFP
