Russia Announces Their Decision that Assad Will Participate in Second Round

Hadi Bahra, the Syrian Coalition’s chief negotiator, said that Russia’s announcement of the Assad regime’s intention to attend the second round of the Geneva negotiations indicates lack of independence in making its decisions. Russia pressed Assad to attend Geneva II as an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution No. 2118.” Bahra stresses that the Syrian Coalition announced it would attend the second round of negotiations at the end of the first round, proving the independence of the decision-making and its commitment to reaching a political solution. Bahra also stresses the need to fully and permanently lift the siege imposed on Syrian cities. The policy of starvation, siege and displacement pursued by the Assad regime against the people of Homs and other Syrian cities are war crimes that must be stopped. He also said that the Syrian Coalition has the exclusive right to expand the delegation of the opposition in line with the national interests.” In a similar vein, Louay Safi, spokesman for the Syrian Coalition, expressed astonishment at Brahimi’s hinting for the need to expand the Coalition’s negotiating team, stressing that “Brahimi’s interference is unacceptable in determining the nature of the negotiating team, as this will not push things forward.” Safi also said that “the Syrian Coalition has the exclusive decision to expand the opposition delegation at the conference. The Syrian Coalition encompasses the broadest representation for the Syrian opposition.”  Safi also recalled that the UN Secretary General sent invitations to two sides only, the Syrian Coalition and the Assad regime. “The Syrian Coalition represents a much wider social spectrum than that represented by the Assad regime,” he said. Moreover, Michel Kilo, a member of the Syrian Coalition, said that “we came to Moscow to ask the Russians to press the Assad regime into agreeing to the terms of Geneva I without any reservations, starting by the formation of a transitional governing body.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)