President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition, Salem al-Meslet, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, calling for the expulsion of the Assad regime from the United Nations and all international organizations. He expressed his support for the UN General Assembly’s resolution condemning the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Al-Meslet expressed the full solidarity of the Syrian people with Ukraine, stressing that the Russian invasion is a violation of the sovereignty of an independent state that is a member of the United Nations and disruption of the lives of a people who want to live in freedom and democracy.
Moreover, Al-Meslet pointed out that what Russia is doing in Ukraine today has been ongoing in Syria for seven years as it supported the Assad regime in targeting public markets, residential areas, hospitals and bakeries, killing tens of thousands of innocent people, and displacing millions of Syrians.
He stressed that the Syrian and Ukrainian peoples face a common enemy, which is the Putin regime, and that the Syrian people do not accept that they become involved in the Russian crimes against the Ukrainian people.
Al-Meslet added that “as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, we affirm that the Syrian people categorically reject the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and absolutely do not accept participation in the Russian war on Ukraine.” He stressed that no Syrian from the Syrian revolution would participate in the war against Ukraine.
He also said that the Assad regime’s recruitment of militants to fight alongside the Russian forces in their aggression against Ukraine is nothing but an implementation of Vladimir Putin’s orders to keep Assad in power.
Al-Meslet condemned the Assad regime’s vote against a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly condemning the Russian aggression against Ukraine. He said that this shameful stance of supporting the Russian regime’s invasion of Ukraine and terrorizing its people is consistent with the nature of the Assad regime and its practices against the Syrian people.
He stressed that the Assad regime is illegitimate and that it does not represent Syria or its people in international forums. He also stressed that its vote at the United Nations against condemning the Russian invasion does not represent the true stance of the Syrian people.
Moreover, Al-Meslet called for a return to the substance of the political process in Syria by calling for a new round of negotiations in parallel with the work of the Constitutional Committee in order to fully discuss the provisions of UN Resolution 2254, especially the formation of the transitional governing body.
He called for taking concrete steps to support a genuine political transition in accordance with the Geneva Communique of 2012, UN Security Council resolutions 2118 and 2254, and UN General Assembly resolutions, especially resolution 67/262.
He stressed the importance of developing new mechanisms to ensure the progress of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee within a binding timeframe.
Al-Meslet pointed to the need to treat the release of detainees as a top priority and to empower the Syrian National Army in order to defend civilians against the Assad regime.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
