President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Nasr Al-Hariri, held a virtual meeting with Norway’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Odd-Inge Kvalheim, and the First Secretary of the Swedish Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Christian Nilsson, to discuss the latest developments in Syria on the sidelines of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
The meeting brought together Coordinator of the SOC’s Department of Foreign Relations Abdulahad Asteipho, SOC’s representative in Germany, Fadel Al-Rifai, SOC’s representative to the UN Maryam Jalabi, and SOC’s representative to the United States Qutaiba Idilbi.
Al-Hariri thanked the EU countries for hosting Syrian refugees, their support for the demands of the Syrian people, and their support for the issue of accountability and preventing impunity.
He expressed disappointment at the results of the latest round of the work of the Constitutional Committee, stressing that the Assad regime still refuses to seriously engage in the political process. He said that an agreement is yet to be reached with regards to the agenda of the next round of talks in Geneva.
He called for using the Uniting for Peace principle to avoid the Russian veto and prevent Russia from blocking action at the UN Security Council. He stressed the need to expel the Assad regime’s representative, Bashar al-Jaafari, from the UN Security Council as the regime is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and the displacement of millions more.
Moreover, Al-Hariri talked about the general situation in Syria five years after the start of the Russian aggression, stressing that the Assad regime is still insisting on pursuing a bloody military solution with Russian support.
He also talked about the situation in northeastern Syria and the PYD militia’s continued violations as he stressed that any dialogue process must lead to an end to of the presence of the PKK terrorist organization in Syria; ensure the return of the displaced people to their areas of origin; and preserve the unity of Syria.
He also talked about the situation of Syrian refugees in Iraq, Somalia and Greece, noting that Syrian asylum seekers in Greece are being subjected to racist attacks that left thousands without shelter. He called for assisting them to reach the countries they want.
Furthermore, Al-Hariri gave an overview on the health conditions in Syria and the work of the Syrian Interim Government to confront the coronavirus. He made it clear that the Assad regime has so far failed to contain the pandemic and refuses to disclose the real numbers of infections.
Al-Hariri highlighted on the critical conditions of Syrian prisoners in Roumieh Prison in Lebanon, citing reports of a major outbreak of the coronavirus inside the facility. He stressed that Syrian prisoners were arbitrarily arrested in response to their activity in the Syrian revolution. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)