Coordinator of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s Office of Syrian Communities Abroad, Muhammad Yahya Maktabi, held a tele-conference with members of the Syrian community in Denmark and discussed with them the latest developments in Syria. Maktabi gave an overview of the major political issues and developments on the ground.
Maktabi stressed the positive role the Syrian communities in the diaspora can play in exposing the Assad regime’s crimes against civilians in front of the outside world and mobilizing international support for the Syrian revolution and the Syrian people.
The discussions focused on the impact that the implementation of the Caesar Act will have on the Assad regime. Maktabi stressed that the Assad regime is mainly to blame for the economic meltdown Syria is going through in view of its decades-long predation of the country’s resources. He cited the record-low depreciation of the Syrian pound which was traded at around 3,000 pounds for the US dollar even before the Caesar Act took effect.
One of the reasons behind the Act was the Assad regime’s refusal to seriously engage in the political process aimed at the implementation of international resolutions, most notably the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254, Maktabi said. He stressed that the Assad regime is directly responsible for the devastation that has been befalling the country for the last nine years.
Participants also discussed the stages of the implementation of the Act and its possible impact on the regime in terms of increasing the pressure on it to sit at the negotiating table and engage in a political process leading to a solution in Syria.
Maktabi noted that the humanitarian disaster in Syria is the biggest the world has seen since the Second World War, adding that the response of the international community and the donor states has so far fallen short of rising to the level of this disaster as they have failed to bring an end to the Assad regime’s crimes against the Syrian people and hold those responsible to account as well as to provide support that is commensurate with the size the disaster.
Mohammed Hamdo, a member of the Syrian community in Denmark and one of the coordinators of the discussion, stressed that holding such discussion is important to keep the Syrians in the diaspora abreast of the latest developments in Syria.
The participants agreed to hold regular discussions to allow the Syrian communities in the diaspora to exchange views and fulfill their role.
Maktabi praised the substantial humanitarian effort the Syrian community in Denmark is making to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to civilians in the liberated areas. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)