Bahra Emphasizes the Need for Coordination in the Anti-ISIS Campaign

Hadi Al Bahra, president of the Syrian Coalition, met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit in New York. Bahra thanks the Turkish government for “responding positively and quickly to give shelter to the large influx of Syrian refugees who have fled ISIS’s onslaught on their villages near the Turkish border. The meeting also discussed the most recent developments in Syria, especially with regard to President Obama’s training and equipping program which was approved by the US Congress and also the need to coordinate efforts between the two sides so that the program yield the desired results. Moreover, both sides stressed the need for creating the right conditions for countering the threat of terrorism by dealing with its root cause represented by the Assad regime which has allowed the extremist organizations to grow and fester. They also stressed that the anti-ISIS campaign in Syria must be carried out along the lines of the Iraqi situation, where a political transition was achieved through the formation of a democratic and inclusive government. Ihsanoglu reaffirmed Turkey’s support for the Syrian people in their battle for freedom and democracy. The meeting came during a visit by a delegation of the Syrian Coalition to the UN headquarters in New York to participate in the climate summit. The Syrian Coalition’s delegation held a number of meetings with international delegations on the sideline of the summit. The delegation included president of the Syrian Coalition Hadi al-Bahra, Vice President Abdul Hakim Bashar, representative of the Syrian Coalition in Turkey Khaled Khoja and representative of the Syrian Coalition in the United States Najib Ghadban. In a bilateral meeting one day ahead of world leaders gathering New York, president Bahra and Saudi Foreign Minister HRH Prince Saud Al-Faisal discussed preparations for additional measures for further protecting the Syrian people. President al Bahra reiterated the Syrian Coalition’s vision for a political settlement with the Assad regime and welcomed all efforts by the international community to degrade and destroy ISIS on multiple tracks. The two also reviewed progress being made on the ground by the Free Syrian Army and other moderate opposition forces fighting ISIS and the Assad regime on the battlefields in Syria. “Our enemies, the enemies of the whole civilized world, ISIS and Assad regime, must be neutralized militarily, but ultimately, only a political solution that results in the full transfer of power in Syria will end the violence and bring the Syrian people out of this period of repressive darkness and death,” president Bahra said. (Source: Syrian Coalition)