The Syrian opposition supports preparations for a new conference on a settlement of the Syrian conflict. In the middle of August the former coordinator of the National Coordination Committee of the country, Haytham Manna, said at the talks with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: “There are no favorable conditions for continuation of the anti-terrorist struggle at the moment. Preparations for Geneva-3 should be started, as the process will open new prospects for the Syrian nation, and will provide new hope to leave the dark corridor where it stays at the moment.”
On the last day of summer, Lavrov met the General Coordinator the National Coordination Body for Democratic Changes of Syria, Hassan Abdel Azim, representatives of the leadership of the Syrian Front for Change and the Liberation of Jamil, the Kurdish Party of the Democratic Union of Issu and the Assyrian Community of Sleyman.
At the Moscow meeting, the Syrian opposition activists assessed the political and diplomatic efforts of Russia for encouragement of a peaceful settlement in Syria through the inter-Syrian dialogue without interference from abroad and on the basis of the Geneva Communiqué of June 30th 2012.
In Moscow in January-April 2015 steps were discussed on uniting the Syrian opposition for development of a common platform for a dialogue with the Syrian government. Moscow stands for formation of a broad anti-terrorist coalition with the participation of the Syrian and Iraqi armies, units of the Syrian moderate opposition, Kurdish militants, regional and international players who are involved in the Syrian conflict for joint resistance against the growing terrorist threat.
Hassan Abdel Azim said after the meeting that the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs had repeatedly stressed that “the situation in Syria cannot remain as it is now, and you must arrive at a political solution to the Syrian crisis. There is complete agreement in our delegation about the need to convene the 3rd Geneva conference. At a meeting on June 6-8 this year, almost all the Syrian opposition met, a ‘road map’ was developed for the future of Syria. That is, a certain complement of the efforts of the coalition, there is a coincidence of the positions of the Syrian opposition and the position of the Russian leadership.”
The UN Envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is holding a series of bilateral consultations with various Syrian and international participants of a settlement in Syria on the problem of implementing the Geneva Communiqué of June 30th 2012.
“The initiative proposed by de Mistura to the Security Council will help to ensure that the Security Council adopts an important decision and it will not be subjected to any veto from the Russian or the American side. Every effort will be made to ensure a political solution. Now the United States, Britain and France understand the danger of ISIS. The international community, largely thanks to Russia's efforts, see the need for a political settlement more seriously. Everyone in the world and in the region is working in the same direction,” Hassan Abdel Azim thinks.
