Syrian dissident Michel Kilo has denied that the Syrian opposition has any knowledge of a proposal made by U.S. Secretary of State for the Syrian regime to delivery its chemical weapons as a condition to prevent military strikes against it.
Kilo stressed that the opposition considers the regime more dangerous than chemical weapons, and said the opposition is unequivocal in its demand that the Syrian President Bashar Assad and his regime are internationally isolated before it takes part in any talks at Geneva.
The leader in the Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, Kilo said in a statements to Italian News Agency (AKI) on Wednesday that "we did not have knowledge of the proposal suggested by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and we were surprised by it."
"I think that all American and international public opinion was surprised too. It might end in a transitional proposal, unless there was an agreement between the Americans and the Russians during Barack Obama's meeting with Vladimir Putin, as there were rumors of a possible compromise or something of that kind."
"If this is the compromise, then the U.S. is managed today by the worst political elite in the world, an elite unable to understand politics or to manage world affairs," Kilo said.
The prominent Syrian oppositionist pointed out the need to distinguish between Minister Kerry's proposal and the initiative put forward by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"There is a big difference between the two proposals. The American minister talked about the delivery of chemical weapons owned by the regime, while the Russians suggested putting them under international supervision. There is a big difference because delivering chemical weapons means taking these weapons out of Syria, while putting them under international supervision means they will remain in Syria, and must be monitored by troops inside Syria," Kilo said.
The exiled dissident said that Assad is trying to deliver his chemical weapons to Israel, and that Israel in turn should convince the United States to cancel the military strikes.
"Shimon Peres said that the Israelis want Syria's chemical weapons, while the Syrian regime had always said that these weapons are to deter Israel. Today Assad tells the Israelis they are ready to give them the weapons if they press Barack Obama in Congress and prevent him from a military strike against Syria. It is quite clear."
"Yesterday Condoleezza Rice warned of the likelihood of these weapons falling in the hands of Hezbollah to be used to hit Israel, and apparently there is a conflict between the Jewish vote in the U.S. Congress, and among Americans on the one hand and the regime and the Russians on the other".
Kilo, who is also a member in the Syrian National Coalition's Political Commission strongly denied that the Syrian opposition would accept any political solution unless the Syrian regime is put under international sanction – and not only its chemical weapons.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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