President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Nasr Al-Hariri, met with political officers at the US State Department’s Syria Transition Assistance Response Team (START) Randall H Kaailau and Emily Brandt. The two sides discussed the latest on the ground and political developments in Syria.
In attendance were also SOC’s Vice-president Abdel Hakim Bashar and member of the General Assembly Abdul Ilah Fahd.
Al-Hariri stressed the importance of keeping Syria on the agenda of friendly states as he underscored the need to support the West’s recent push for holding the Assad regime accountable and preventing attempts to rehabilitate the Assad regime.
Al-Hariri also stressed the need to support efforts to revitalize the political process and reach a political transition in accordance with the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Resolutions 2118 and 2254.
Moreover, he pointed out that the Assad regime continues to obstruct the work of the Constitutional Committee and is trying to gain more time in order to hold its illegal elections. He stressed the need to commit to a timetable and to oblige the regime to commit to the procedural rules for the work of the Constitutional Committee.
Al-Hariri made it clear that the release of detainees and the disclosure of the fate of the forcibly disappeared is the only step that can be viewed as a concrete, positive step in the confidence-building measures. However, it cannot constitute a positive step in revitalizing the political process, which depends on discussing the constitutional provisions and drafting a new constitution.
He also stressed the need to discuss all the baskets laid out in UN Resolution 2254, and to fully implement the resolution, especially the formation of a transitional governing body.
For their part, the US officials reaffirmed the US’s support for the aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom and democracy and to reach a political transition in accordance with UN Resolution 2254. They also expressed support for the efforts to hold the Assad regime accountable for the war crimes against the Syrian people. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
