Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations’ Special Envoy to Syria, who recently called Bashar al-Assad a “part of the solution,” now says the dictator must go and should be militarily pressured to do so by the U.S.—a move, de Mistura conceded, that would require Washington to sidestep the U.N. Security Council.
De Mistura made these comments last Friday at a private meeting with Syrian American organizations in Geneva, according to two participants in the meeting. De Mistura reportedly “made it very clear that Assad had to go… It was unequivocal.”
Members of the political committee met with UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Thursday in Istanbul. The two sides discussed the implementation of the Geneva statement, while the Syrian Coalition presented its point of view regarding the formation of the transitional governing body with full powers.
Members of the political committee gave their future vision of the implementation of the Geneva statement and presented the “Document of Basic Principles for a Political Settlement in Syria” which was agreed on with a number of political and military factions.
President Khoja welcomes the press release issued by the UN envoy’s team condemning the Assad regime’s use of barrel bombs in Aleppo.
Khoja stressed that any approach aimed at targeting ISIS only, excluding the Assad regime and its allied extremist organizations, will be doomed to fail. He also stresses the need to establish safe zones in Syria as a step towards the implementation of the Geneva statement by stopping the killing, the promotion of civil governance, the provision of humanitarian aid, the return of the displaced and fighting extremism. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)
