The Syrian Coalition called on the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) to work on establishing a timetable for lifting the blockades on besieged areas across Syria; ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need and releasing detainees in Assad’s prisons.
At a meeting with representatives of the Friends of the Syrian People group on Wednesday, members of the Coalition’s political committee stressed the need for a timetable to achieve progress in the negotiations; for holding violators of the truce to account and for an effective mechanism to determine the sides responsible for obstructing the political process.
Representatives of the Friends of the Syrian People group showed understanding of the decision by the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee’s (HNC) to suspend participation in the Geneva negotiations as a result of the regime’s repeated violations, its hindering of the delivery of humanitarian aid and its refusal to release detainees. The political committee said there has been an increasingly large number of massacres and crimes committed by the regime during the latest round of negotiations.
The meeting touched on the suggestion made by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel to establish a safe area in Syria during a visit to Syrians’ refugee camps in southern Turkey accompanied by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and a delegation from the Syrian Coalition and the HNC.
At the end of the meeting, the political committee gave a brief overview of the issues on the agenda for the Coalition’s General Assembly meeting due to begin on Thursday. The General Assembly meeting will discuss forming a new interim government based in liberated areas in order to provide services to the civilian population in those areas. It will also discuss increasing the representation of women in the Syrian Coalition and co-opt FSA groups on to the ranks of the Coalition. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
