Al-Khatib: No solution in Syria without Assad departure

MESOP : THE SYRIA DEBATE BEGINNING 2015 / “NEVER TEXT THE WEST AGAIN”

January 2, 2015 – ARA News – Damascus, Syria – As the Moscow peace talks approach, the Syrian opposition emphasizes the necessity of change at the head of the regime’s pyramid, saying that any political solution for the Syria crisis will require ousting President Bashar al-Assad.

According to reports, Assad’s ally Russia is making an effort to gather Syrian regime officials and opposition figures at the end of January to hold peace talks and discuss possible ways to put an end to the nearly four-year conflict. Moaz al-Khatib, former chief of the Syrian National Coalition for the Revolutionary Forces and Opposition (SNC), released a statement on his Facebook page on Thursday, saying there would be no real solution without the departure of the head of the regime. Khatib’s statement comes on behalf of the recently established opposition group of Suriya al-Qatan (Syria the home).

“The brutal bombardment of Syrian civilians on the hand of the Assad regime must stop,” he said, describing the military action of pro-regime forces in Syria as “one of the biggest crimes in the history of humanity”. Thursday’s statement appeared to be Khatib’s response to invitations to the talks sent out by Russia to opposition figures this week. It did not make clear whether Khatib had been invited or would attend. Khatib is a respected figure and regularly cited by diplomats as someone who could play a part in a future political solution for Syria. He visited Russia with other opposition figures in November to discuss the crisis. The Syrian war has claimed lives of more than 200,000 people so far, according to the United Nations’ statistics. Reporting by: Laila Majdalawi Source: ARA News