President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) Nasr Al-Hariri held a virtual press conference with the UN Association of Accredited (ACANU) to talk about the humanitarian situation amidst the coronavirus outbreak, the latest string of terrorist operations targeting civilians in northern Syria, the importance of releasing detainees and disclosing the fate of the forcibly disappeared, and the disappointing results of the fifth session of the Constitutional Committee.
Speaking from the SOC’s office in the town of Azaz in rural Aleppo, Al-Hariri said that the Assad regime has not made any serious step towards a political solution at its all levels. “For the regime, the political process is just a tactic to waste time until it is able to reimpose itself on the international community.”
He said that “the opposition delegation managed the process with the utmost positivity, realizing that the representatives of the regime had nothing of their own, and that they were mere puppets controlled by the security services, and they were unable to move outside the dictates that reached them.”
“The regime’s obstruction and the opposition’s positivity are, in fact, a message to the international community, that the issue, in its current status, cannot move any step forward. We have reached a dead-end,” he added.
Al-Hariri stressed that “the available practical option is to activate Article 21 of UN Resolution 2218 regarding imposing practical measures against the regime under Chapter IIV of the UN Charter.”
“The major actors are required to activate the article appropriately to ensure the implementation of the political solution based on Resolution 2254 in accordance with a strict international monitoring mechanism in which American, European, Arab and Turkish efforts are combined without leaving any opportunity for the regime to manipulate nor disrupt.”
Moreover, Al-Hariri said that “there is no hope for any successful political process unless changing the international position and developing an integrated strategy that includes all aspects of the crisis, the most important of which is stopping the regime’s crimes, releasing detainees, and ensuring a political transition in accordance with the Geneva Communiqué and UN Security Council Resolutions No. 2118 and 2254, and in accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution 67/262 which provides for the formation of a transitional governing body that includes the powers of the government and the presidency.”
He also talked about the dire health conditions in the liberated areas and the Rukban refugee camp as well as the tremendous efforts that the Ministry of Health of the Syrian Interim Government is making to stem the coronavirus.
Al-Hariri also touched on the disastrous economic situation into which Syria plunged into in the past ten years, stressing that the Assad regime is mainly to blame for this disaster as it continues to procrastinate in the pollical process and depletes the country’s resources in military operations.
He highlighted the disastrous role of Iran and its sectarian militias in Syria and the region, as well as the atrocious crimes being committed by the PYD militia and the PKK terrorist organization against civilians east of the Euphrates. He stressed that the withdrawal of all militias and terrorist groups from the country is a major pillar of a political solution and the restoration of security and stability. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
