A Syrian Negotiation Commission delegation led by Nasr al-Hariri met with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, Security Council and General Assembly Ambassadors and UN officials in New York on Monday.
Hariri set out the dangers with the Sochi process as it stands – “that it risks undermining the Geneva process and the goal of transition set out in the Geneva Communique and resolution 2254.”
“There is a political process, it is in Geneva and it’s not working because the regime refuses to negotiate. A parallel process will not change that reality and in fact risks emboldening the regime and its commitment to a military strategy,” Hariri added. He cited the massacres the Assad regime and its allies are committing against civilians in Idlib and eastern Ghouta.
Hariri urged the international community, especially the UK and the US, to “help change the dynamic by working with allies to put pressure on the regime to negotiate at Geneva and apply real pressure on the regime and its backers to bring it to the negotiating table. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
