Al-Maleh: Recognition of Geneva I by Iran Necessary for Geneva II Participation

Haitham al-Maleh, legal committee head, stresses that the Assad regime “is against going to Geneva II, as that means the handover of power and the formation of the transitional ruling body. However, Assad has been trying to reverse this fact through his attempts, alongside Russia and Iran, to divert the main focus of Geneva II, which is the formation of a transitional governing body without any role for Assad to play.” Maleh also points out that “we support a political solution, wherever it was, but it must be based on the terms spelled out in Geneva I. We also don’t reject the participation of Iran provided that it recognizes the Geneva I Communique as a basis for negotiations, as well as after the Iranians pull back all their troops who are fighting with more than 25 factions inside Syria.” Furthermore, Maleh stresses that “we simply will not go to Geneva II to negotiate with someone who is occupying our country.” Maleh said earlier that “Russia is fully aware that Assad cannot play any role in the transitional phase, the Russians are absolutely certain of Assad’s downfall. However, they need real guarantees to ensure the safety of their agent in the region, considering the fate of the ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Louay Mokdad, FSA’s media and political coordinator, said earlier that Assad seeks to “create an atmosphere of terrorism through these terrorist bombings fitting well with his political agenda ahead of Geneva II, instead of releasing detainees and the opening of humanitarian corridors and other requirements that are able to ensure the success of the international efforts to bring about a political solution.” Abdul Basit Sida, political committee member, described the clichéd talk about terrorism reiterated by Iran, the Iraqi government and the Assad regime ahead of Geneva II as “immoral attempts by the Assad regime to hammer home his political agenda at the international conference, after the Assad regime and its allies declared that the primary objective of the conference is fighting terrorism and not handing over of power.”  Sida also said that the Assad regime “not only kills the Syrian people to hold on to power, but also starts killing the Russian and the Lebanese people to mislead the international community and the entire world to persuade them that the real conflict in Syria is with terrorism and not with the Syrian people.” Sida was referring to the terrorist bombings that hit Russian and southern Beirut, one of Hezbollah’s most important strongholds. (Source: Syrian Coalition)