On Monday meetings began for the “Small Group” for finding a political solution in Syria, as the French capital Paris this week witnesses a number of meetings around the Syrian issue.
The High Negotiations Committee confirmed its participation in the Small Group meeting, with the head of the committee, Nasr al-Hariri, saying on Twitter that a delegation of the committee would attend the meetings in addition to holding meetings with French and international officials.
Hariri said that the issue of the northern region in Syria and the crimes of the Syrian regime and Russia and the protection of civilians and prisoners would be at the top of the committee’s priorities.
The Small Group includes the United States, France, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. It is expected that the meeting will discuss the political process in Syria and the barriers to forming a constitutional committee and the complexity of the six names that have been proposed for the committee, but opposed by Russia.
The meeting comes as part of a series of meetings led by the United States with regards to Syria this week. This coincides with the Israeli-Russian-American meeting in Tel Aviv attended by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Partshev, with the American National Security Adviser, John Bolton, and the head of the Israeli National Security Council, Meir Ben-Shabbat.
The meetings around Syria come in light of the military escalation in Idleb by Assad’s forces and the Russian Air Force, ongoing since April, in addition to the difficulties of forming a constitutional committee, which the guarantor countries are depending on for a political solution.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
