Secretary-General of the Syrian Coalition Abdul Ilah Fahd said that the Assad regime and its Iranian ally continue to violate the truce, stressing that the mass forced displacement operations being carried out by the regime and its allies, the latest of which took place in the Wadi Barada valley, constitute war crimes.
During a meeting with the Finnish envoy Leena-Kaisa Mikkola in the headquarters of the Coalition’s Secretariat in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday, Fahd said that the Astana meeting has failed to shore up the shaky truce in Syria.
Russia, a guarantor of the ceasefire agreement, has so far failed to honor its pledges to force the Assad regime to stop breaches of the truce, Fahd said.
Fahd emphasized that that the opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC) is the only opposition body mandated to represent the Syrian opposition in Geneva. He denounced attempts to interfere in the issue of representation of the Syrian opposition in any upcoming peace talks.
“Improving the humanitarian situation in Syria through the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 2254 is crucial to the resumption of negotiations in Geneva,” Fahd added.
Fahd thanked the Finnish envoy for her country’s efforts to send humanitarian aid to those in need in Syria, stressing the need to channel this aid through “clean hands to those most in need.” (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)
