Syria opposition to boycott international meetings
The Syrian National Coalition decided to boycott talks with world powers after announcing plans to form a government to run “liberated areas” of Syria, in what analysts said was a bid to boost its credibility and win more support from the international community.
Syria’s main opposition group said on Saturday that it was pulling out of international talks and demanded world action to stop the slaughter of Syrians, after missiles slammed into the city of Aleppo killing dozens.
The Syrian National Coalition decided to boycott talks with world powers after announcing plans to form a government to run “liberated areas” of Syria, in what analysts said was a bid to boost its credibility and win more support from the international community.
Coalition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib said the group’s withdrawal from meetings abroad was “a message of protest to all governments of the world, Arab and non-Arab, that can see how the Syrian people are being killed, while they merely look on.”
He was speaking as the conflict, which has cost the lives of more than 70,000 people according to the UN, is set to enter its third year, with no end in sight.
Condemning the “international silence” on the bloodshed in Syria, which it charged “amounts to participating in two years of killings,” the opposition said Friday that it would not attend meetings in Italy, Russia and the United States.
It singled out Damascus ally Russia for blame, saying its leaders were “ethically and politically responsible because they continue to support the [Syrian] regime with weapons.”