President Khoja and members of the Syrian Coalition, the Syrian interim government and FSA commanders from Aleppo met in the Turkish town of Kilis on the Syrian-Turkish border to discuss the situation in Aleppo and to lay out a unified response to the international initiatives, particularly the “freeze” plan put forth by the UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura.
President Khoja said that the fate of the crumbling Assad regime is now in the hands of his Iranian allies, calling on the conferees to take into consideration the following points before accepting or rejecting any peace initiatives. First, any initiative must engender a comprehensive solution that includes all Syrian territory, not just Aleppo. Second, the Assad regime should not benefit from any initiative. Third, any initiative should not lead to the loss of the revolution’s social base.”
Khoja stresses that the Syrian Coalition has not given up the goal of overthrowing the regime and its inner circle, pointing out that the Coalition would be part of the team which will be formed in Aleppo to deal with de Mistura’s initiative.
Interim Minister of the Interior Brigadier Awad Al-Ali warns of attempts by the Assad regime to take advantage of de Mistura’s plan, which originally talked about a cessation of hostilities, but is now talking about the cessation of heavy shelling, and which also talked about all of Aleppo, but is now talking about some neighborhoods or just one of them.
Al-Ali points out that the Assad regime seeks to present itself as open to dialogue and willing to engage in peaceful political solutions, while it actually wants to use initiatives to its own benefit and would drag its feet on them the moment they are no longer useful to it.”
Colonel Abdul-Jabbar Aqidi, former head of Aleppo’s military council, calls on rebels in Syria in general and in Aleppo in particular to unite and close ranks, expressing his refusal of de Mistura’s approach which singled out Aleppo to apply the “freeze” plan in rather than dealing with Syrians as one entity.
Representatives of Aleppo local council stresses that engagement with any international initiative must be aimed at putting an end to suffering of the Syrian people without allowing the Assad regime to exploit them to improve its positions and sow division among the Syrian people. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
