Syrian Opposition Calls for Resuming Direct Talks with Damascus

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen gestures while speaking during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia July 22, 2021. Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via REUTERS
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen gestures while speaking during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia July 22, 2021. Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via REUTERS
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Syrian Opposition Calls for Resuming Direct Talks with Damascus

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen gestures while speaking during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia July 22, 2021. Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via REUTERS
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen gestures while speaking during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia July 22, 2021. Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool via REUTERS

The opposition Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) urged on Sunday the resumption of direct UN-sponsored talks with the regime of President Bashar Assad, in the wake of the return of Damascus to the Arab fold after a 12-year isolation.

In a statement following a two-day meeting in Geneva, the SNC called on "brotherly and friendly countries to support the efforts of the UN to take all necessary resolutions to fulfill a comprehensive political solution".

The statement called for a solution in line with UN Security Council resolution 2254, which set out a roadmap for a political transition.

"The international, regional and Syrian conditions provide an appropriate circumstance for the resumption of direct negotiations... under a specific agenda and timetable," the SNC added in the statement.

The UN has played the mediator’s role between the government and the opposition since the beginning of the conflict, and it held several rounds of talks that were mostly in Geneva in 2018, but they hit an impasse.

After the failure of negotiations, the UN focused on holding talks to draft a new constitution, but no progress was made.

The Syrian opposition received support from several Arab states during the first years of the conflict, but this support gradually diminished with the stalemate of the political process.

Twelve years after the war, the political opposition has lost much of its momentum.

More than one decade after some Arab states severed ties with Damascus, the Arab League announced last month the return of Damascus to the AL after around 12 years of suspending its membership.

Saudi Arabia resumed ties with Damascus, knowing that some Syrian opposition figures were headquartered in Saudi Arabia. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad headed last month to the Arab summit in Jeddah to break the regional isolation of Damascus.

The Arab states seek to play a “leading” role in reaching a political settlement for the conflict, according to several statements.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said late last month that "new diplomatic activity in the region could be an opportunity if seized."

 



Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
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Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected ISIS group members, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to ISIS, more than five years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.

Kurdish administration official Sheikhmous Ahmed said "a tripartite meeting was held on Saturday in the Al-Hol camp" that included a government delegation, another from the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS, and Kurdish administration members.

Al-Hol is northeast Syria's largest camp, housing some 37,000 people from dozens of countries, including 14,500 Iraqis, in dire conditions.

Discussions involved "establishing a mechanism for removing Syrian families from Al-Hol camp", Ahmed said.

The visit comes more than two months after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, agreed to integrate the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the national government.

The deal also involved guaranteeing the return of all Syrians to their hometowns and villages.

No progress has yet been reported on the administration's integration into the new government.

In Damascus, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba told reporters Al-Hol is "part of the agreement" signed by Sharaa and Abdi.

He said the issue requires "a comprehensive societal solution for the families who are victims" of ISIS.

In February, the Kurdish administration said that in coordination with the United Nations, it aimed to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of extremists, by the end of the year.

Al-Hol includes a high-security section for families of foreign ISIS fighters.

Ahmed said the fate of those families "is linked to the countries that have nationals (in the camp), and to the international coalition", which supported Kurdish-led forces who fought ISIS, detaining its fighters and their relatives.

The Kurds have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens, but foreign governments have allowed home only a trickle, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.

It is unclear who will administer prisons holding thousands of ISIS fighters in the northeast, with Abdi saying in February the new authorities wanted them under Damascus's control.