President of the Syrian Coalition, Abdurrahman Mustafa, met with Joel Rayburn, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs and the Special Envoy to Syria in the US State Department, to discuss latest attack by the Assad regime on civilians in several parts of rural Idleb.
President Mustafa stressed the importance of accountability for war crimes as an essential part of the political process that was set out in the international resolutions on Syria, most notably the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254. He called on the United States and its allies to ratchet up pressure on the Assad regime, to force it to respect the Idleb ceasefire agreement and engage in the political process.
“We are seeing continued deadly attacks by the regime in Khan Sheikhoun and Ma’aret al-Nu’man. It is important to preserve the de-escalation zone agreement. We hope that our allies will continue to exercise pressure on the regime and force it to respect the agreement and ensure it is implemented in full,” President Mustafa said. He continued, “We oppose all terrorist organizations without exception.”
With regards to the political process, President Mustafa explained that the Syrian Coalition continues to support the formation of the Constitutional Committee as a gateway to the political process. “It is important that the Committee meets the United Nations standards and be fair and balanced,” he added. He expressed the hope that UN resolution 2254 will be fully implemented.
Furthermore, President Mustafa underscored the need of a consensus between Turkey and the United States, noting that the Coalition supports reaching a consensus between the two countries. “We are pleased with this consensus and the developments that have taken place since the last meeting. What is more important for us is that the Assad regime, the Iranians and terrorist organizations are not allowed to fill the vacuum that will result from the US withdrawal from Syria.”
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
