Efforts by the former president of the Syrian National Coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib, to rally support for his latest initiative have received acceptance among the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
A member of the Supreme Military Council, Ahmad Abu Alaasmi, told Madar al-Youm that Khatib met with officers in the camps on the Turkish-Syrian border and not with officers inside Syria, pointing out that the Supreme Military Council did not participate in the visit of the former president of the Coalition to Moscow.
However, Alaasmi stressed that the Council supports "any solution that contributes to stopping the Syrian bloodshed". Alaasmi reported that Khatib's initiative is an attempt to find solutions, but doesn’t have the elements of an initiative, stressing that the Russians are still pushing to sit down with the Iranians and make them part of the solution – despite the fact they are part of the problem – as Iran occupies Syria and Assad is just a tool that bears the responsibility of the Syrian bloodshed. Therefore, he said, it is impossible to negotiate with Iran.
Alaasmi reported that the attitude of the defectors who met Khatib in the camps stemmed from the distress they live in and their eagerness for any sign of hope, stressing that the Supreme Military Council supports reaching a real solution to achieve the ambitions of the Syrian revolution.
Khatib had said in interviews that he met with FSA officers during his visit to the Syrian-Turkish border, explaining his talks in Moscow, and pointed to an international consensus to get rid of Assad and form a transitional government from the opposition and some regime figures whose hands had not been contaminated with blood.
It is noteworthy that Khatib refused a Russian request to negotiate directly with Iran, and said that Russia had told him that it cannot force Iran to agree on a solution for the Syrian crisis, but stressed at the same time that Russia is sure that an Iranian approval will come when they make sure that the solution will be adopted at the U.N. Security Council.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
