The Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) political committee held a regular meeting under the chairmanship of SOC’s President Nasr al-Hariri to discuss international contacts that emphasized the international community’s rejection of the elections farce that the Assad regime intends to hold later this month. The committee stressed that elections can be recognized as legitimate only if they were held within the framework of UN Resolution 2254 and under the auspices of the United Nations.
Participants discussed the briefing that the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, has recently submitted to the UN Security Council. They denounced the UN’s negative position considering itself outside the regime’s elections only, noting that it should have called the regime out for its refusal to implement UN Resolution 2254 and disruption of the work of the Constitutional Committee. They also regretted the UN’s failure to hold the Assad regime responsible for its actions as they called on the UN Security Council to take the necessary measures to oblige the regime to implement UN resolution 2254.
The committee also stressed that the amnesty decrees and other laws being issued by the regime are null and void. The SOC’s legal office said that the latest amnesty law is not much different from the decrees that the Assad regime has issued in recent years as none of them went into force, especially with regard to the release of political detainees. These amnesties benefit only the crimes and offences being committed by the Assad regime’s forces against Syrian civilians in the regime-held areas. They also aim create the a false impression of the existence of a safe environment for the return of refugees and reconstruction.
The committee also reviewed a report by the Military Liaison Office on the latest developments on the ground, the shelling on civilian areas in Afrin, and the security situation in the liberated areas.
Furthermore, the committee reviewed a report by the SOC’s Office of Syrian Communities Abroad, which talked about the virtual meetings it held with heads of the Syrian communities around the world. It made it clear that these communities shared a unified position rejecting the Assad regime’s survival in power and stressing that its departure is the key to a political solution in Syria and the number one condition for the dignified and voluntary return of refugees.
The Syrian Tribal Council submitted a report on the efforts it is making in the liberated areas in order to achieve societal security, civil peace, conflict resolution and reconciliation.
The Committee for National Dialogue also gave an overview on the communications it is holding with components of the Syrian people in the southern and coastal regions. It highlighted the growing discontent and dissatisfaction with the deteriorating living conditions that the Syrian people are living in and their refusal to participate in the upcoming elections farce which they said reflect the Assad regime’s detachment from the painful reality in the country. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
